How to Practice Shape Up

The Shape Up method was developed by Basecamp to help teams teams avoid wasteful cycles and ship meaningful work.

Some of the key concepts are:

• Shape the work before giving a project to a team, with a focus on how much time should be spent, rather than estimating how long something will take.
• Make teams responsible, where designers and programmers take full ownership of their work, defining tasks, adjusting scope, and building in vertical slices.
• Target risk by solving open questions before committing to a project and minimizing the risk of delays and unexpected problems.
• Work in six-week cycles, which is long enough to build something meaningful but short enough to maintain urgency. Decisions are based on progress toward the product, not on micromanaging time.

How to Shape Work

Imagine you’re designing the blueprint for a house. Before any construction begins, you need to outline exactly what will be built.

But for many product and software teams, you can’t go out and just build the entire house.

So… how much should you choose to build?

This is the “Shaping” phase in Shape Up. The goal is to prepare work before it reaches the team, setting clear boundaries so they know what they’re building without unnecessary distractions.

Latitude is the space between over-shaping and under-shaping work. The goal is to give teams enough structure (a clear problem and constraints) while allowing them latitude to decide how to solve it.

Defining the problem

Clearly articulate the problem you want to solve. This isn’t just about identifying symptoms but rather understanding the root cause of user pain points. Engaging with users and stakeholders helps gather diverse perspectives, which is crucial for framing the challenge effectively.

Remember that a well-defined problem statement aligns the team and sets a strong foundation for the entire project.

Determining your appetite

Traditional project management often relies on estimates to determine timelines. Teams break down work into smaller tasks, assign a time estimate to each, and then plan accordingly.

The problem with estimates is that they are almost always inaccurate, leading to scope creep, missed deadlines, or overburdening teams. It focuses heavily on how long something might take rather than what should be done within a fixed time.

Appetite is about determining what’s important enough to pursue within a given period (e.g., two weeks or six weeks). The work is then scoped to fit within that appetite, ensuring a balance between ambition and available time.

Focusing on appetite pushes teams to prioritize and make trade-offs, leading to more disciplined scope management and avoiding endless extensions due to overestimating the time required.

Ask yourself “how much do we want to spend ?” instead of “how long do we think it will take?”

Coming up with a solution

A key part of this phase is defining the scope of the solution. This means specifying what will be included in the project and what will be left out. By clearly outlining the boundaries of the solution, teams can concentrate on delivering a product that meets the defined needs without getting sidetracked by features that could dilute focus or extend timelines. This clarity also aids in aligning team members and stakeholders on expectations, ensuring everyone is on the same page regarding deliverables.

Watching for risks

As you develop solutions, it’s essential to keep an eye on potential risks and challenges. Take a proactive stance towards identifying obstacles early in the process. Ask yourself questions like:

• Does this involve any new technical work that we’ve never tackled before?
• Are we relying on a design solution that we might not be able to develop ourselves?
• Is there a critical decision we need to make upfront to avoid slowing down the team later?

Setting no-go’s

Establishing clear boundaries for what constitutes a “no-go” is crucial for maintaining focus. These criteria help the team identify conditions under which a project would be deemed unfeasible or undesirable to pursue. By defining these boundaries upfront, teams can avoid unnecessary detours and concentrate their efforts on viable options, ensuring that resources are allocated effectively.