Lean Coffee
A structured but agenda-less meeting format developed by Jim Benson and Jeremy Lightsmith. Participants propose topics, vote on them democratically, and discuss the highest-priority topics in timeboxed slots. A simple Kanban board (To Discuss / Discussing / Discussed) tracks progress. It ensures every minute is spent on what the group actually wants to talk about.
How to run it
- 1
Set up a simple Kanban board with three columns: To Discuss, Discussing, Discussed.
- 2
Each participant writes discussion topics on sticky notes (1–2 minutes).
- 3
Everyone places their topics in the 'To Discuss' column.
- 4
Each participant gets 2 votes (dot stickers or marks) and votes on topics they want to discuss.
- 5
Sort topics by votes. Move the top topic to 'Discussing'.
- 6
Set a timer for 8 minutes. Discuss the topic.
- 7
When the timer rings, vote: thumbs up to continue (2 more minutes) or thumbs down to move on.
- 8
Move the completed topic to 'Discussed' and start the next highest-voted topic.
- 9
Continue until time runs out or all topics are covered.
Tips
8 minutes per topic feels short but forces focus.
Trust the process — the vote to continue prevents any single topic dominating.
Works brilliantly for remote teams with a digital board.
Variations
Run asynchronously by collecting topics in a shared doc before the meeting. Use a longer initial timebox (15 min) for deeply technical topics.
Where it fits
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Workshop Weaver helps you combine methods like Lean Coffee into a complete, timed agenda in minutes.
Try it freeMethod descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices. This method was inspired by work from Community.