Bring your “coffee machine chit-chat experience” online with Lean Coffee

What is Lean Coffee? 

In a world full of back-to-back meetings, especially with remote work becoming the norm, Lean Coffee offers a welcome change of pace. It’s a simple, structured meeting format without a fixed agenda, where participants decide what topics to discuss based on what matters most to them.

Whether you’re part of a product team, a project group, or a community of practice, Lean Coffee creates a democratic, focused, and time-efficient space to bring up ideas and explore them meaningfully.

Why It Works: The Power Behind the Simplicity 

Lean Coffee started in the agile community but has since spread to all kinds of professional settings. What makes it so effective?

• Participant-driven:
  • Everyone gets a voice, and topics are prioritized democratically. 

• Time-boxed:
  • Discussions are focused and respectful of everyone’s time.

• Flexible:
  • It works in-person, remotely, or as a hybrid using simple tools like sticky notes or Miro. 

Would you like to run Lean Coffee sessions with us?

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Open roles

• Focused on value and outcomes:
  • The group discusses what’s relevant right now. 

• Fun:
  • Your sense of humor is always welcome. 

• Lean:
  • ​​True to its name, there’s no room for wasted time or effort.

How to Run a Lean Coffee 

1. Set the stage: 
   • Grab a Miro template (don’t worry, I created one for you here).

2. Brainstorm topics (5 minutes): 
   • Each participant writes 1–3 topics or questions they’d like to discuss. It could be something they want to share with the group, a challenge they’re facing, or an assumption to validate.
   • Everyone adds their topics to the Topics area in the template. Once all topics are visible, take a quick moment as a group to clarify anything that’s unclear before moving on to voting.

3. Vote: 
   • Each person gets a few votes (usually 2–3). Use the built-in Miro voting feature.
   • Participants can distribute their votes however they like, but I recommend one rule: don’t vote for your own topic. In my experience, this makes the conversation more balanced.
   • Topics with the most votes rise to the top of the To Discuss column.

4. Discuss: 
   • Move the top-voted topic to the Discussing column and start Miro’s timer tool.
   • After 5-7 minutes, do a quick thumbs-up/thumbs-down check:
     • 👍 = Continue for another 3–5 minutes
     • 👎 = Move on to the next topic
   • Move completed topics to the Discussed column.

5. Repeat until time runs out. 

Tips for an Awesome Lean Coffee 

• Keep it small:
  • 4–10 people work best.
• Use a facilitator:
  • Appoint someone to keep track of time and help the group stay on track.
• Capture insights:
  • Take notes or screenshots of the board so nothing gets lost. I usually ask the person who raised the topic being discussed to jot down the main takeaways and add them to a separate sticky note next to the topic.
• Follow up:
  • Turn useful discussion points into action items or topics for deeper exploration.
• Make it efficient:
  • If you’re running Lean Coffee with the same group over multiple sessions, start each new session by reviewing outcomes or action items from the previous one.

Use Cases: Where Lean Coffee Shines 

• Agile retrospectives:
  • Let the team decide what’s most worth discussing.
    
• Knowledge sharing sessions:
  • Great for learning across teams or functions.
    
• Community meetups or book clubs:
  • Encourage spontaneous but focused conversation.
    
• 1:1 coaching or peer learning groups:
  • Keep things flexible and participant-driven.

Reflections: Experience with Lean Coffee 

Over time, I’ve facilitated Lean Coffee sessions with a wide range of groups, from teams
navigating change to community meetups, and each time it sparks meaningful, valuable
conversations.

To give you a broader perspective, I also connected with several people who’ve either
taken part in these sessions or started running their own. Here’s what they had to say:

“As a facilitator, I enjoy how Lean Coffee gives people the chance to ask a simple question or share an update, things they might not get space for in a regular meeting. I also love how democratic it is, from choosing topics to deciding whether to continue a discussion. One more thing I find powerful: even if you leave the meeting without action points, people still feel like they got value out of it. Just like a good chat by the coffee machine 😉”
 
Rasheed Raya, Senior Agile Coach & Facilitator

“A common challenge we had in my team was simply not having enough time or open space to discuss topics and ideas that weren’t immediately urgent but were overall important. By creating this space and not allowing me to own the agenda we opened discussions and reached much better shared alignment as a team.” 
 
Conor Winders, VP of Product and Engineering, SaaS

“Lean Coffee helped us make our conversations more focused and inclusive. It gave everyone a voice and let us prioritize what truly matters to the team. It’s now our go-to format for retros and alignment sessions.” 

Hugo Oliveira, Director of RND Enablement

“One of the reasons I enjoy Lean Coffee is because it democratizes the topics of conversation through anonymous voting.  Even the extension of time for conversations is democratic. I’ve had to coach groups on what sorts of topics can be added to the idea list, pushing their boundaries to include questions about our processes, our org chart, our opinions on ideas.”

Tim Drisdelle, Director of Engineering 

 Less Talk, More Value 

Lean Coffee isn’t just another meeting format, it’s a mindset shift. By trusting the group to self-organize and focus on what matters most, you create space for deeper engagement and better outcomes.

Ready to give it a try?