No branded merch, no filler. Just the planning poker decks, sticky notes, and facilitation tools we'd hand a new Scrum Master on day one.
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Six things worth having before your next sprint planning or retro.
Fibonacci-sequence estimation cards, one deck per team member. Laminated card stock holds up to months of daily use.
Pick a deck with a "?" and "coffee break" card — teams use both more than you'd think.
Find it on Amazon → ~$10–15The heavier "super sticky" kind — regular sticky notes fall off whiteboards mid-retro. Get at least 3 colors for start/stop/continue.
Buy more than feels reasonable. Retros eat through these fast.
Find it on Amazon → ~$18–25A physical timer teams can actually see across the room — keeps timeboxed standups and retros honest without someone watching a phone.
Anything with a visible color-fade countdown beats a plain digital display.
Find it on Amazon → ~$20–30A dedicated board beats a shared whiteboard that gets erased before your next standup. Magnetic surface holds printed swimlane labels.
Worth it the first time someone wipes your sprint board by accident.
Find it on Amazon → ~$35–60Small round adhesive dots for prioritizing retro items or roadmap votes. Faster and less messy than markers for group voting.
Two colors let you separate "priority" votes from "agree" votes.
Find it on Amazon → ~$8–12Fine tip, low-odor, and they don't ghost on the board after a week. Cheap enough to keep a backup pack in the drawer.
Fine tip over chisel tip — better for writing small on crowded boards.
Find it on Amazon → ~$10–14Short, practical writing on running ceremonies that don't waste anyone's time.
Why most retros go flat by month three, and three format changes that keep them useful.
Read it →The actual mechanism behind why hiding estimates first improves accuracy — and where the technique breaks down.
Read it →A short pre-flight list for sprint planning that catches the problems teams usually find out about mid-sprint.
Read it →If you're setting up ceremonies for a brand-new team, these six cover planning, retros, and daily facilitation — buy them once and you're set for a year.