Facilitation
Lean Coffee retrospective template
Run a Lean Coffee session online for free: To discuss, Discussing, Done, with a timebox and dot voting. No sign-up.
Opens a new board with these columns, right in your browser.
What is the Lean Coffee retrospective?
Lean Coffee is a structured but agenda-less meeting. Participants propose topics, vote on them, and discuss them in order with a strict timebox (often five to eight minutes), moving cards from To discuss to Discussing to Done. The group decides after each timebox whether to continue or move on, so the conversation follows the energy in the room.
The columns
- To discuss
- Discussing
- Done
When to use it
Use it when the team has many small topics rather than one sprint to review, for community-of-practice meetings, or as a change from structured retros.
How to run it in Peel in 5 steps
- Create a Lean Coffee board and share the link.
- Everyone adds topics to To discuss for five minutes.
- Reveal, group duplicates and dot-vote to set the order.
- Move the top topic to Discussing and start Peel's Lean Coffee timebox; when it ends, vote thumbs up to continue or move on.
- Move finished topics to Done with a note or action, and repeat until time is up.
Frequently asked questions
How long should each timebox be?
Five to eight minutes is common. Peel's timer and timebox help you keep it honest.
Who invented Lean Coffee?
Jim Benson and Jeremy Lightsmith started Lean Coffee in Seattle in 2009.