California Improvement Summit: The Follow-Up Starts November 11
The California Improvement Summit ended on September 1. The work didn't. On Wednesday, November 11, we start a quarterly follow-up: free, virtual on Zoom, and open to anyone improving work in California. You don't need to have been in the barn, or to travel.
Why the California Improvement Summit needs a place to meet
Twenty-seven practitioners spent a day and a half at the Octagon Barn in San Luis Obispo on one question: how do we make continuous improvement Easier, Better, and Faster, with humanity, across California's organizations? In the two months since, more than a hundred comments and a long run of unprompted email have pushed the thinking further than the room could with a clock running.
That's encouraging. It's also a warning. A day and a half every year or two is an event, not a structure, and the most useful offers so far arrived by reply-all. That was a generous accident, not a system. So we are giving the work a regular place to meet.
How the session runs
The session is virtual only, on Zoom. Once a quarter, it takes the place of that month's Central Coast Virtual Lean Coffee. That brings four groups into one room: the Summit participants; the wider Summit community, everyone invited who has followed the work since; people new to improvement; and the Lean Coffee regulars who have met on the second Wednesday for years.
The core runs ninety minutes, from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. Pacific, with an optional fifteen minutes on each end. The full window runs 9:45 to 11:45:
9:45–10:00 · Connectivity check (optional)
10:00 · Welcome, announcements, and Impromptu Networking
10:20 · Lean Coffee
10:50 · Breakouts
11:20 · Wrap-up and next steps
11:30–11:45 · Overtime post-game (optional)
The announcements will be honest. The white paper, Improving Improvement, is out for comment. Three practitioners have started testing its approach: in a welding shop, through an assessment program, and in a county budget. And six of the Summit's seven countermeasure themes still have no owner. We would rather say that up front.
Then the board is yours, Lean Coffee style. Bring a topic and a thirty-second pitch, the room votes, and the top topics get the time. In the breakouts, small groups take a top topic or a Summit theme deeper and put their work on the Summit's Miro board, so the next session can start where this one stopped. We close with one question each: what will you try before February, and how will you tell us what happened?
A note on the date
November 11 is Veterans Day. We will begin with a moment of thanks to those who have served. If the day takes you elsewhere, notes will be shared afterward.
Four dates, one rhythm
Second Wednesday of the quarter, 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. Pacific (1:00 to 2:30 p.m. Eastern):
November 11, 2026 (Link: https://www.purpose-ccl.org/events/california-improvement-coffee-quarterly-summit-follow-up-2026-11-11-10-00-1)
February 10, 2027 (Link: https://www.purpose-ccl.org/events/california-improvement-coffee-quarterly-summit-follow-up-2027-02-10-10-00)
May 12, 2027 (Link: https://www.purpose-ccl.org/events/california-improvement-coffee-quarterly-summit-follow-up-2027-05-12-10-00)
August 11, 2027 (Link: https://www.purpose-ccl.org/events/california-improvement-coffee-quarterly-summit-follow-up-2027-08-11-10-00)
What we're testing
We might be wrong that a quarterly rhythm is the right one, or that this mix of Lean Coffee and breakouts fits work this size. That's fine. It is a small experiment. The format will change as the work does: more breakout time if a theme gains an owner, a working session if a test needs one, or less structure if the conversation wants room. We will make those changes in public and say why. If it holds, this becomes where the Summit's work lives between summits, and the In the Room newsletter becomes its record.
Join us. Register for November 11 (Link: https://www.purpose-ccl.org/events/california-improvement-coffee-quarterly-summit-follow-up-2026-11-11-10-00-1). Lean Coffee regulars are already on the calendar invite; registering just tells us you're coming. Before the session, post a topic on the Lean Coffee Table (Link: https://www.leancoffeetable.com/TaskBoard/View/c53f9f67-9dd3-43f4-8af4-f8820e419ffb?guest=true) or look around the Miro board (Link: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVHfchVyQ=/?share_link_id=790589802415). Can't make it? Comment on the white paper (Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EYDBXEY0j99GsW2rgrpR2c4APj7WXxrfB4zVnDNENVA/edit?usp=sharing) or write to eric.o@centralcoastlean.org (Link: mailto:eric.o@centralcoastlean.org).
Knowledge Map
Process Keywords
Lean Coffee, Impromptu Networking, breakouts, A3 problem solving, countermeasures, PDSA, visual management, Miro obeya, improvement value stream, Liberating Structures
Context Keywords
improvement efforts that stall after the event, no owner for the next step, good results that don't spread, follow-up that depends on email, communities that only meet once a year, the human side of improvement
Application Triggers
If your improvement event ends with energy and no owners, then schedule the next conversation before people leave.
If the best follow-up is happening by reply-all, then give it a regular, visible place to meet.
If a virtual session keeps losing its first ten minutes to audio problems, then open the room fifteen minutes early.
If breakout work disappears when the call ends, then capture it on a shared board the next session can open.
Related Continuous Improvement Themes
respect for people, learning in public, sustainment and spread, leader standard work, communities of practice
This announcement was prepared by Central Coast Lean from the California Improvement Summit 2026 A3 (Draft Rev 8), the white paper Improving Improvement (Draft Rev 4), and the In the Room newsletter, with Claude AI assistance, and reviewed by Eric O. Corrections are welcome and will be credited: eric.o@centralcoastlean.org.
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