Loading content
Lean Coffee is a facilitated, time-boxed meeting format for focused, participatory discussions without a preset agenda. Participants propose and democratically prioritize topics, addressing each in short iterations. It is useful for retrospectives, community sessions and ad-hoc decision making. Promotes focus, shared ownership and efficient time use.
Use this profile to understand the building block briefly, place it in the model, and switch to the 360° assessment when needed.
Executable approach: can be applied and produces an outcome.
What organizes, connects, or makes decisions possible.
Lean Coffee is a self-organized conversation format without a preset agenda. Participants collect topics, vote on order, and discuss them in short timeboxes that continue only when the group wants more.
Jim Benson and Jeremy Lightsmith shaped Lean Coffee in Seattle in 2009 while looking for a lightweight meeting for self-organized conversation. The name combines its lean structure with the informal setting of a coffee shop.
Picture a funnel with a timer: topics enter as cards, the group prioritizes them, and one topic moves into the conversation area for a short round. At the end, participants vote to continue; insights and open questions are captured visibly.
Everyone contributes topics before the group chooses together.
A short fixed duration protects attention and allows several topics.
After each round, the group decides whether the current exchange promises more value.
Lean Coffee fits retrospectives, open exchange sessions, and groups with changing questions. It distributes agenda power and keeps discussion focused; facilitation still matters so quiet voices and concrete outcomes have room.
Where this building block is located in the topic model.
No structure path available.
Explore how this building block connects to concepts, methods, technologies, and tools.
These sources establish the term and its professional meaning.
All direct connections of the current building block in a compact text view.
This classification shows where the building block typically matters, how demanding it is, and what kind of impact it has in the model.
The level within the organization (enterprise, domain, team) at which the AssetBlock is applied.