Enact the High Church of Lean Coffee

​No, this isn't that kind of coffee house.

I'll admit it: even when Portland is one of the most agnostic cities in the US, it's still nice to participate in weird rituals at end of week.

Let's spend an hour-ish talking about Agile-inspired topics that rattle around our minds during the grinding week.

We'll spend the first few minutes gathering topic ideas, then roll right into the smooth easy cadence of lively discussion.

New to Lean Coffee? It's a great way to have real dialogue on topics, and we generally are discussing lean and agile - but anything goes. As far as the mechanics, here are the basics:

Step 1: Everybody writes down topics they'd like to discuss (anything goes) on stickies placing them in the center of the table. Take as much time as needed, but typically takes only 3-5 minutes.

Step 2: Each topic is briefly described by its writer (15-30 seconds typically per sticky).

Step 3: Each person gets three votes which they indicate by marking the voted-for sticky with their sharpie (they can put as many votes as they like on one sticky).

Step 4: The top stickies are placed in the ToDo column, ordered by the stickies with the most votes at the top.

Step 5: Each of these stickies are discussed for 5 minutes, based on prioritization. The facilitator takes a quick "Cesar" (thumbs up/down) vote at the five-minute timer, and she moves on for two more minutes if the discussion still has majority interest. When complete, move the sticky over into a new column that represents 'done'. Repeat step until all done.

Step 6: If enough time is left over, pull in another sticky or two.

Step 7: wrap-up thoughts at the end - what one idea or person did you most enjoy, then break for home/drinks/cover.