Bag of Tricks

As a coach, you’ll likely find yourself doing a lot of facilitation when introducing practices. Examples include getting retrospectives up and running or sparking creativity during product design sessions when you’re putting together a release plan. Having the right equipment can be invaluable.

The Contents

I do a workshop from time to time, called “Leading Design.” In essence it’s for coaches who lead design-intensive software teams. A lot of the equipment in my bag is aimed at getting the innovation out, breaking the damn logjams that dam our creative juices. This is an exploded view of the gear I bring as of today:

1. Post-Its. Lots and lots of post-its. I like the really big, really bright ones, but I also bring your standard 3″x3″ ones. Having a variety of sizes helps in some of the exercises I do like activity modeling.
2. A tomato kitchen timer. I use the Pomodoro Technique in my workshop (try to, anyway). Dave Hussman brought this idea into my world. Hell, he gave me the timer!
3. Five sets of six-sided dice. I do an exercise to demonstrate the effects of variation. You can buy The Red Bead Experiment for ~$200.00 USD or you can buy a bunch of dice at a southern flea market for $1.00 USD.
4. Objectified, a documentary about product design. I use this to reinforce some of my assertions that since software is a kind of design, we can borrow a lot from the design community.
5. Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky. This is the handbook for organizing change. I call it out a couple of times in my workshop, and like to re-read a couple of key passages to get fired up.
6. A Ball of Whacks toy. I’m kind of considering how to use this in my workshop. If nothing else, I can leave a couple on the tables for people to kill time in a creative way between exercises and mini-talks.
7. Several decks of cards. On the top is Brian Eno’s “Oblique Strategies” deck. He uses this in the production studio to unjam creative blocks. An example strategy: honour thy error as a hidden intention. The bottom two decks, “The Creative Whack Pack” and “The Innovative Whack Pack” are from Roger van Oech. Each card give you is a tool for unlocking creativity and innovation, thinking from different perspectives, etc. I love them and have written about them before.
8. A bunch of different-colored sharpies and a good dry erase marker. More-or-less self-explanatory.
9. A slide whistle. Rather than go with the typical Tibetan store equipment (chimes, bowls, gongs) favored by most Agilists, I went with something slightly more absurd.

The Container

Select a bag that can take a beating, something that will protect its insides. Mine is really just a tool bag, made of super durable Cordura nylon (meaning that it is nigh indestructible). It fits in my travel backpack and the shoulder strap is convenient for toting my gear back and forth (both useful features for mobile coaching and workshop delivery).

One really awesome thing is that there are tons of pockets, inside and out. I don’t keep anything in the outer pockets while traveling, but do use them to get setup and put things I’ll need in a handy area for quick access while facilitating a session.

Drop Ship the Rest

The rest of the stuff (projector, whiteboards, index cards, butcher paper, tape) I source locally. A little recon is helpful here. Where is the nearest office supply store, or, if you’re in London, stationary shop? I tend to rely on the locals and beneficence of my hosts.

Now a Word on the Unimportance of Gear

Coaching, unlike camping, isn’t all about the gear. Your most important tools are your ability to get the context of a situation (listening) and to think on your feet (adaptation). Sometimes gear can be a distraction. Even so, having a basic supplies and thought toys can help get the ball rolling. Simple tools that help people unleash creativity in complicated situations or explain ideas where words fail are super handy. Coming prepared? Well, that’s just indispensable.

Tagged as: agile, Coaching, facilitation, tools, workshop