Shape Up

This book is a guide to how we do product development at Basecamp. It’s also a toolbox full of techniques that you can apply in your own way to your own process.

Whether you’re a founder, CTO, product manager, designer, or developer, you’re probably here because of some common challenges that all software companies have to face.

Growing pains

As software teams start to grow, some common struggles appear:

• Team members feel like projects go on and on, with no end in sight.

• Product managers can’t find time to think strategically about the product.

• Founders ask themselves: “Why can’t we get features out the door like we used to in the early days?”

We saw these challenges first-hand at Basecamp as we grew from four people to over fifty.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction

Part 1: Shaping

Chapter 2 Principles of Shaping

Chapter 3 Set Boundaries

Chapter 4 Find the Elements

Chapter 5 Risks and Rabbit Holes

Chapter 6 Write the Pitch

Part 2: Betting

Chapter 7 Bets, Not Backlogs

Chapter 8 The Betting Table

Chapter 9 Place Your Bets

Part 3: Building

Chapter 10 Hand Over Responsibility

Chapter 11 Get One Piece Done

Chapter 12 Map the Scopes

Chapter 13 Show Progress

Chapter 14 Decide When to Stop

Chapter 15 Move On

About the Author

Ryan Singer has worked on all levels of the software stack, from UI design to back-end programming to strategy.

Through over 17 years at Basecamp, he’s designed features used by millions and invented processes the teams use to design, develop, and ship the right things.

These days he’s focused on product strategy: understanding what Basecamp’s customers are trying to do and how to make the product fit them better.

Thanks for reading. I’d love to hear about your questions and experiences as you try to apply the Shape Up method. Reach out to me on Twitter at @rjs or send an email to shapeup@basecamp.com.