When we hear the phrase ‘Everyday Carry (EDC)’ we offend think of the pocket knife, cell phone, and multi-tool. However, as a Scrum Master/Coach everyday we might find ourselves facilitating a session to achieve an outcome curated for those we’re working with. Prior to any facilitation (e.g. Retrospective, Planning, Refinement, etc.), we are often asking ourselves if we have everything we need to conduct a successful session. Depending upon the physical environment of where we will be conducting the facilitation the needs may differ.
What should be in our coaching EDC?
It’s great to know that if you need to quickly set up a room, support a colleague, or just conduct a regularly scheduled session, it’s great to know that you have a kit ready to facilitate. These are some of the things I maintain in my EDC and why:
| Item Description: | Why this is useful? |
| Expo Click Dry Erase Markers | When writing it’s nice to have the ‘clickable’ version so that the marker doesn’t dry out as quickly and you don’t have to chase the cap. |
| Post-it Notes (3×3 & 3×5) in color yellow | 3×3 for regular ideas, 3×5 for larger ideas and different facilitations. |
| Post-it Notes (3×5) in colors not yellow | Non-Yellow so that if you’re story mapping you can have a few contrasting colors |
| Index Cards 3×5 in color white | Regular paper 3×5 cards are great for card sorts and when you don’t have a wall where Post-it Notes stick well + Index cards are a great size for paper prototyping mobile experiences. |
| Time Timer (small clock timer) | This is a great little clock that you can get to visually indicate remaining time. It’s so handy because the visual cue reinforces time boxes |
| Sharpie Retractable Permanent Marker (Med) | Using Medium point helps to keep what is written nice and big and readable from far away and when you take picture it’s easier to read |
| Painter’s Tape | Because you sometimes need to tape things to walls and or other around a room |
| Planning Poker Cards | Nice to have for Planning or other interactive facilitations |
| HDMI Adapter for Mac/PC | Depending upon your company/environment I have a couple of video out adapters because AV gear is something that gets used frequently |
| USB Thumb drives (2 or 3) 32GB+ | A few low-cost thumb drives just in case, they’ve come in handy more times than I can count |
The Virtual Version of EDC
With the shift in how many of us are working the EDC has changed. Now I look to have at a link to Mural – https://www.mural.co/ for teams to use quickly, there are templates for retrospective, business model canvas, and other very useful virtual collaborative frameworks.