[This post is part of Corinna’s Guide to Facilitating Retrospectives]
Hi there!
Last week, I talked about what a retrospective is and isn’t. Before we look at a concrete plan for a retro in next week’s post, I’d like to focus on just a part of that overall plan. A single method that I use all. the. time. Not just in retrospectives, in all kinds of meetings. It’s so versatile, it’s almost like magic – one of my all time favorite facilitation methods:
Timeboxed Lean Coffee
What’s it for, you ask? Excellent question!
Whenever you find yourself in a meeting without an agenda or clear topic, you can use Lean Coffee to create a prioritized list of topics in minutes. Time you easily gain back by staying relevant and fewer people zoning out.
With Lean Coffee you make sure you’re talking about things that the majority of people care about. With time boxes you make sure that the more outspoken people cannot keep a topic going that most participants have lost interest in.
Here’s how it works:
1) Collect Topics
- Everyone needs sticky notes and a pen
- You each write down the topics you would like to talk about – one topic per sticky note
- Going around the group, everybody puts their stickies up on a board and reads out their topic(s). Cluster stickies that are about the same topic. If there is disagreement about whether something is the same topic, don’t enter a discussion just leave them as separate votable topics. When in doubt, don’t cluster.
2) Prioritize
- Time to dot vote: People vote on the issues they would like to discuss by marking their 3 favorite topics
- Order the stickies by number of votes
Boooyaa, there’s your prioritized agenda – reflecting interest in the topics \o/
3) Talk
Start discussing the top-voted topic. In the original description on LeanCoffee.org, you switch to the second topic, when the discussion peters out, and so on.
I always time box the discussions to make sure that no subgroup of people argues or rambles on forever about the same topic while everybody else is slowly falling asleep. My default time limits are:
- Set a timer for 10 minutes. When the timer beeps, everyone gives a quick thumbs up or down. Majority of thumbs up: The topic gets another 5 minutes. Majority of thumbs down: Start the next topic with 10 minutes on the clock.
- If applicable: Before you change the topic, write down any decision, todos, and the like
- Stop when the total meeting time is up
Adjust these time limits to your context! If I know that a topic is highly controversial, I start with more time right away.
As a side effect, this method teaches two different ways of voting:
- Dot vote – a fast way to choose between many options
- Roman vote/Gladiator vote – a quick way to decide Yes or No for a specific choice
They are absolute facilitation basics that every team should know for less aimless talking and faster decisions.
Side Note on Turn Taking
In every discussion that you ever facilitate it is hugely beneficial if you introduce turn taking so that people who are comfortable with interrupting others will not bulldoze over those participants who are not. Turn-taking is even more important in remote settings. Raising your hand (either physically or digitally) to indicate that you want to speak and waiting for your turn, knowing that your team members will let you speak – that is a gamechanger. Going from the chaos of caucus to taking turns is simple and powerful.
Take a minute:
- Are your team members already taking turns or are some voices crowded out?
- Can you think of a meeting you regularly attend that would benefit from Lean Coffee? Or Dot Voting?
- How can you introduce what’s missing?
I can’t wait for next week, when we’ll work through a specific plan to run a retrospective *excited*
Cheers from Germany,
Corinna
PS: Most of this email is an excerpt from my free ebook “Facilitation is a Team Sport“
PPS: A word on time keeping: If you are co-located, invest in a Time Timer. It’s an egg timer on steroids. It’s the clearest and easiest way to countdown time I’ve found so far. They are pricey (last I checked, about 60$) and they are worth every cent!
It’s super easy to set the time (you pull out the red disk) and it’s highly visible. Everybody is aware of how much time is left. Really helps with (self-)discipline. When the time is up, it beeps and nobody needs to be the bad guy that interrupts.
If you’re remote, check out the tools you are using for their time keeping features, e. g. I use the timer in Miro. Timers are also available in Mural and Conceptboard.
PS: Did you know there's a Retromat eBook Bundle? Ready-made retrospective plans for beginners and all activities from Retromat for experienced facilitators. Check out the Retromat books