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Have you implemented Shape Up in your team?

flo merian
4 replies
Happy Monday! ☀️ Back in 2019, @rjs open-sourced how product development happens at Basecamp in a book called "Shape Up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work that Matters." TL,DR:
  • 6-week cycles
  • Shaping the work
  • Making teams responsible
  • Targeting risks
We started experimenting with Shape Up a few weeks ago to define focused projects, address unknowns, and increase collaboration and engagement within the team. I'm curious to know if anyone here has implemented it, too? How do you apply it to your own processes? What are your best practices?

Replies

Marco Ancona
I think Shape up brings a lot of interesting advice. For me the main point is to “allow flexibility in the scope, not in the delivery date”. In other words, a team should be aware that, if the project is not delivered on time, it is not delivered at all. This pushes everyone keeping things simple, and tackling the most uncertain work items first.
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flo merian
@marco_ancona2 > "if the project is not delivered on time, it is not delivered at all." absolutely *love* this one 🙏
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@marco_ancona2 I'm also a big fan of Shape Up's appetite-driven thinking, which IMHO is slightly different from the concept of fixed deadline but flexible scope. Shape Up's appetite is fixed deadline but flexible "how". The appetite determines the solution design, in other words, how a customer need gets satisfied. Fixed deadline but flexible scope is not a new concept, but switching it to flexible "how" is really clever. It adds a new, more powerful layer to tradeoff making.
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flo merian
@jgani > "The appetite determines the solution design, in other words, how a customer need gets satisfied." fully agreed. shipping work that matters, as in reference to the book title, is about satisfying customer needs. all is about solving customer pains.
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