Retro format 07 of 27
Lean Coffee retrospective
No fixed format: people propose topics, vote, and talk through them in timeboxes.
- 30–55 min
- 2 to 10 people
- Great remote
Good for
Experienced teams tired of templates, and remote teams. The agenda comes from the team.
Facilitator tip
Keep the timer visible and respect the thumbs. Lean Coffee only works when topics are allowed to end.
The Lean Coffee board, drawn out.
3 areas: To discuss, Discussing, Done. Draw the columns on your whiteboard before the retro. Here's what a software team might put in each.
1To discuss
Do we still need story points?
2Discussing
Flaky e2e suite: quarantine or fix?
3Done
Agreed: reviews within one working day
How to run a Lean Coffee retrospective.
About 55 minutes as written. Change the length in the agenda builder below and every step scales with it.
- 1
Check in
5 min
Say why you're here and that the retro is about the system, not people. Go through last retro's action items: done, in progress, or dropped on purpose.
- 2
Propose topics
5 min
Everyone writes topics they want to talk about, one per note, with a one-line pitch.
- 3
Vote
3 min
Everyone gets two votes. Sort the To discuss column by votes.
- 4
Discuss in timeboxes
27 min
Take the top topic, set a 5 minute timer. When it rings, thumbs up to continue for 3 more minutes, or move on. Note any decision or action as you go.
- 5
Agree action items
10 min
Pick one to three actions from the top topics. Each gets one owner and a due date, and goes into the next sprint's backlog, not only the retro notes.
- 6
Close
5 min
Read the actions and owners back. Ask everyone to rate the retro 1 to 5 (return on time invested) and change one thing next time if the scores are low.
Prompts to put on the board.
Read one out when the writing stalls, or paste them next to the columns.
- What is on your mind about how we work that we haven't talked about?
- What decision is waiting that the team could make right now?
- What surprised you this sprint?
Your Lean Coffee agenda, timed to your slot.
Fill in the team and the time. Copy the agenda into Confluence, Notion or Google Docs as formatted text, or grab the Markdown.
Length
- 0:00–0:05Check in · 5 min
- 0:05–0:10Propose topics · 5 min
- 0:10–0:13Vote · 3 min
- 0:13–0:40Discuss in timeboxes · 27 min
- 0:40–0:50Agree action items · 10 min
- 0:50–0:55Close · 5 min
Payments team Sprint 14 retro: Lean Coffee
Length: 55 min
No fixed format: people propose topics, vote, and talk through them in timeboxes. Experienced teams tired of templates, and remote teams. The agenda comes from the team.
Agenda
| Time | Step | Min |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00–0:05 | Check in | 5 |
| 0:05–0:10 | Propose topics | 5 |
| 0:10–0:13 | Vote | 3 |
| 0:13–0:40 | Discuss in timeboxes | 27 |
| 0:40–0:50 | Agree action items | 10 |
| 0:50–0:55 | Close | 5 |
How to run each step
- Check in (5 min). Say why you're here and that the retro is about the system, not people. Go through last retro's action items: done, in progress, or dropped on purpose.
- Propose topics (5 min). Everyone writes topics they want to talk about, one per note, with a one-line pitch.
- Vote (3 min). Everyone gets two votes. Sort the To discuss column by votes.
- Discuss in timeboxes (27 min). Take the top topic, set a 5 minute timer. When it rings, thumbs up to continue for 3 more minutes, or move on. Note any decision or action as you go.
- Agree action items (10 min). Pick one to three actions from the top topics. Each gets one owner and a due date, and goes into the next sprint's backlog, not only the retro notes.
- Close (5 min). Read the actions and owners back. Ask everyone to rate the retro 1 to 5 (return on time invested) and change one thing next time if the scores are low.
Board
- To discuss
- Discussing
- Done
Prompts
- What is on your mind about how we work that we haven't talked about?
- What decision is waiting that the team could make right now?
- What surprised you this sprint?
Last retro's action items
| Action | Owner | Status |
|---|---|---|
Action items
| Action | Owner | Due |
|---|---|---|
Copy pastes as formatted text into Google Docs, Notion or Confluence. Markdown is for GitHub, Jira or Slack.
Try next, when this one gets stale.
- 10
Speedboat
- 30–50 min
- 2 to 20
- Great remote
- 26
Perfection Game
- 30–45 min
- 2 to 10
- Great remote
- 04
Sailboat
- 45–60 min
- 2 to 20
- Great remote
Book the retro on a day the whole team is in.
A retro with two people out hears half the sprint, and its actions have no owners. Forgot shows sprints, holidays and time off on one board, so you can see who's out on retro day before you send the invite.
Lean Coffee retrospective questions
What is a Lean Coffee retrospective?
No fixed format: people propose topics, vote, and talk through them in timeboxes. Experienced teams tired of templates, and remote teams. The agenda comes from the team.
How long does a Lean Coffee retro take?
30 minutes at the shortest, and about 55 minutes as written here. The agenda builder on this page stretches or squeezes each step to fit your slot.
Can you run Lean Coffee remotely?
Yes, it works well on a video call. Set up the board on a shared whiteboard before the call, give everyone silent writing time with cameras optional, and use anonymous dot-voting.
What goes on a Lean Coffee board?
3 areas: To discuss, Discussing, Done. For example, from a software team: To discuss: “Do we still need story points?”; Discussing: “Flaky e2e suite: quarantine or fix?”; Done: “Agreed: reviews within one working day”.
What team size is Lean Coffee for?
2 to 10 people. With more people, split into groups for the writing and discussion, then bring the top topics back together.
What can I run instead of Lean Coffee?
Speedboat, Perfection Game, Sailboat. They suit similar sprints from a different angle. Rotate formats every two to four sprints so the retro doesn't go stale.