Well, not a bag dump per se… more like a book dump.

I set out to update my daily carry to solve two simple problems: one, I carry a lot of crap; and two, I wanted an iPad case that wasn’t a purse. I love having a slew of writing and drawing tools at my disposal and I hated the idea of needing a big bag (or again, a purse) to carry them all.

I discovered the TwelveSouth BookBook Travel Journal for iPad (a mouthful, I know) as a practical alternative to carrying around a bunch of stuff in a bag. It’s got lots of straps, pockets and organized zones, proving they thought through a lot of realistic use cases for the product.

I find myself carrying it into meetings—even long, planning meetings—without a computer. I find it’s helpful to single task with an iPad and physical media rather than manage the constant distractions of having a computer with me. There’s definitely a tradeoff, but it’s almost always worth it.

For physical media, I rely a lot on notecards. They’re cheap, easy to draw on, write on and organize. Tearing one in half is a little cathartic and shows how easy it is to bail on early ideas. They’re a great size for sketching interfaces or user workflows on, too. Notecards eventually manifest as Trello boards, making it easy to digitally extend a physical note.

I also whiteboard a lot. Same deal: a whiteboard is so fast. Ideas just show up and concepts get written out. There’s almost no barrier ot entry or learning curve. I love having a pocket whiteboard with me but sometimes I bring a Nuboard along with me, too. It’s great to have flexible, simple drawing tools that allow for collaboration and brainsketching on the fly.

The best whiteboard is the one you have with you.