Execution & Shipping

Shape Up Cycle A three-phase product development cycle: Shape (senior people define the problem and solution boundaries), Bet (leadership commits specific shaped work to the next cycle at a betting table), Build (small autonomous teams execute in a fixed six-week timebox). Followed by a two-week cooldown before the next cycle. Steps: 1. SHAPE (2-4 weeks, parallel to current build cycle): Senior people study the raw idea. Define the problem clearly. Sketch a solution at the right level of abstraction (fat-marker sketches, not wireframes). Set the appetite (how much time this idea is worth: small batch = 1-2 weeks, big batch = 6 weeks). Write a pitch document with: Problem, Appetite, Solution, Rabbit Holes, No-Gos. 2. BET (during 2-week cooldown): Hold a betting table meeting. Review only shaped pitches (not a backlog). Decide which pitches to commit to for the next 6-week cycle. Assign teams to bets. No grooming, no backlog review, no estimation sessions. 3. BUILD (6 weeks, fixed): Small integrated teams (1 designer + 1-2 programmers) take ownership. They break the shaped pitch into scopes (independent, meaningful slices of work). They discover and track tasks within scopes. They report progress on hill charts (uphill = figuring out, downhill = executing). They actively cut scope to hit the deadline. Circuit breaker: if it doesn't ship in 6 weeks, it doesn't get an extension by default. 4. COOLDOWN (2 weeks): Teams fix bugs, address loose ends, and decompress. Shapers finalize pitches for the next betting table. Leadership meets at the betting table to decide next cycle's bets. Why it works: It separates the strategic thinking (shaping) from the execution (building), gives teams real autonomy and ownership, prevents scope creep through fixed timeboxes, and avoids the burnout of endless sprints by building in cooldown periods. The circuit breaker prevents sunk-cost thinking. Common mistakes: - Treating shaping as a spec or wireframe exercise. Shaping should be at the right level of abstraction -- too detailed and you remove team autonomy, too vague and teams flounder. - Running cycles back-to-back without cooldown. The cooldown is not wasted time -- it's where strategic thinking, bug fixes, and recovery happen. - Turning the betting table into a backlog grooming session. Only shaped pitches should be considered. If it's not shaped, it's not ready to bet on. - Giving teams tasks instead of shaped problems. Teams should discover their own tasks within scopes, not receive pre-broken-down task lists. - Extending the deadline instead of cutting scope. The whole framework depends on fixed time. If you extend, you lose the forcing function that makes teams prioritize.