http://leancoffee.

org/ - Lean Coffee Lives Here

WHAT IS LEAN COFFEE(tm)?

Lean Coffee is a structured, but agenda-less meeting. Participants gather, build an agenda, and
begin talking. Conversations are directed and productive because the agenda for the meeting
was democratically generated. There are currently dozens of Lean Coffees happening world-wide,
including Seattle, San Francisco, Stockholm, Toronto, Boulder, New York City, and more.

WHERE DID LEAN COFFEE START?

Lean Coffee started in Seattle in 2009. Jim Benson and Jeremy Lightsmith wanted to start a group
that would discuss Lean techniques in knowledge work but didnt want to start a whole new
cumbersome organization with steering committees, speakers, and such. They wanted a group
that did not rely on anything other than people showing up and wanting to learn or create.

Now, Seattle Lean Coffee happens every week, is very popular, and requires only that someone
who has been there before shows up and even then its just so they know where we stash the
post-it notes.

HOW DOES LEAN COFFEE WORK?

The format for a Lean Coffee is very simple. This is intentional. It is meant to be the least
structure necessary for a coherent and productive meeting. No more, no less.

1. Set up a Personal Kanban

In this Personal Kanban we have the items to discuss, what we are currently discussing, and the
discussed columns.

This provides a structure for the conversation. Next we populate it

2. What to Discuss
People all get pads of post-it notes and a pen. They then start to add their
topics for conversation into the to discuss column. These can be literally
whatever people want to discuss or follow a theme. Right now, we want
to encourage as many unique ideas as we can.

When the ideas start reach a certain point (an youll be the best judge
of when that is), each topic gets a 1 to 2 sentence introduction. This
way people know what to vote for.

3. Vote and Talk

Each participant gets two votes. You can vote twice for the same thing or for two different
topics. Simple put a dot on the sticky you are interested in. Tally the dots.
Then you are ready to have a conversation.

The power here is that you now have a list of topics

everyone at the table is interested in and is motivated
to discuss for real.

WHAT IF I WANT TO START A LEAN COFFEE?

Do it! It really is this simple.

WHAT IF I HAVE ALREADY STARTED ONE?

If you have started a Lean Coffee and would like, we would be happy to set you up with a
subdomain on leancoffee.org like this -> seattle.leancoffee.org. We will be working in the future
to come up with an interactive map that will show all the Lean Coffees on earth and let you
either find one near you, or find one where you are traveling. We just need to know where you
are.