The current Sydney Lean Coffee protocol:

  1. Everyone offers topics they are interested in discussing by writing them on index cards
  2. We vote on each of the topics to prioritise.  You can vote for as many topics as you like but only once per topic.
  3. We discuss each topic in turn.  Initially, ask the propose to explain the topic, then go round the table to give an opportunity for everyone to provide an initial comment, then open discussion.
  4. When the topic is done, we move on to the next one.  Usually we defer to the topic proposer about when the topic is done.  If someone disagrees, then s/he can raise a new topic.  Typically we discuss 3 topics per Lean Coffee session.
  5. At the end of the overall Lean Coffee session, we run a quick retrospective.  What did we like? What didn’t we like? What are ideas for improvement?