Have you ever been in a work discussion that goes on and on past the point of usefulness? 

Have you ever been the one prolonging the conversation because you aren't sure everyone's been heard? Yeah, me too … on both counts.

The Lean Coffee format can help. This meeting format is well-suited to get democratic input on generating agenda items, prioritizing them, and managing time for discussion. I was first introduced to the format by Adam Yuret, a Seattle-based lean practitioner.

There are a number of different Lean Coffee formats that appear if you Google the term, but the variant that I have used requires participants to first display topics they would like to discuss on Post-Its so everyone can see them. When everyone’s ideas for the discussion are up, we go around and each person who provided the topic gives a 30 second explanation of it. Participants have three to five votes to distribute across the topics, which get a "passion index.”

It’s now time to talk! Begin a time-boxed discussion of the topic with the highest votes. I’ve used a time-box of 8 minutes. When the 8 minutes have passed, take a silent roman vote to determine whether participants have derived sufficient value from the discussion or would like more time (a Roman vote is voting by thumb). Thumb up means, “I’d like to continue this discussion,” thumb sideways means “meh,” and thumb down means, “I don’t have more to contribute.” By voting this way, you can vote without interrupting the discussion. If the majority of participants vote thumbs up, continue the discussion on a reset timer. 

When the majority of participants vote thumbs down (or thumbs sideways for ambivalent), close out the discussion. This is the time to call out any action items and their owners as applicable, then move to the next topic and discuss it using the same method. In my work experience, 30-45 minutes is a good length for Lean Coffee discussions. There can be a determined time limit, or you can let the passion of the group set that limit.

Working this approach with a distributed group takes a bit of creativity -- you can use a web-based post-it note board like Corkboard.me, or set a Google Doc and use comments to record up, down or "meh" votes.

What benefit does the Lean Coffee format give? The touchstones for the approach are to be democratic, flexible, results-oriented, and to respect people’s time. Within those boundaries, tweak it and make it your own.

So go take it for a spin, and come back to post on your experience, results, and tweaks!