I like to start each cycle with a handful of things to shape. Usually it’s a mix of straightforward improvements to existing features, and more speculative ideas—a big new thing or rethinking a core workflow.
The next six weeks are fluid. Ideas that seemed straightforward turn out to have hidden complexities that push them beyond our appetite. A solution that sounded brilliant at first ends up being too much for too little. A customer or coworker shares a long-running frustration and suddenly the way to solve it snaps into focus and becomes a pitch.
Many ideas never turn into pitches, and many pitches that reach the betting table, never get built.
I’ve talked with a few companies recently who’ve adopted Shape Up and only shape what they’ve already decided to build. Instead of choosing from a collection of shaped ideas at the betting table, a sort of ad-hoc betting table happens before shaping even starts. The decision is made to build this feature or improve that one next cycle. Now that it’s decided, it’s time to shape it so it’s ready to go.
When a small team is building a new product, that approach makes sense. There's a long list of things you know the product needs, both novel features and foundational things like account management or notifications. Pick the next priority, shape it, and go.
For established products, though, it limits creativity and flexibility, and often leads to building things that shouldn’t have been built. Shaping is when you dig into the problem, not just the solution. Maybe it’s not as significant as you thought, or customers are quite happy with the workaround they’re using. You might realize that solving this problem brings with it a whole other set of expectations or will limit your options in the future.
If the decision has been made to build this thing regardless, you skip all of that and focus on the solution without fully understanding the demand side. Committing in advance turns shaping into a fixed time/fixed scope process. You should be able to follow an idea to unexpected places, and even set it aside for awhile if it’s not working.
This approach is often because shaping is constrained. There’s not enough time to shape multiple options for the betting table, and there’s no time for dead ends or switching to a more promising idea after spending a week on another. Those constraints are real, especially when the team is small, but there are almost always ways to rethink priorities and where time is being spent. If shaping is a side hustle, both the process and the product suffer.
Another common cause is when there’s a disconnect at the betting table and the question is asked, Why were these things shaped and not these other, more important things?
If shaping isn’t aligned with the priorities of the business, there are many ways to recalibrate before flipping the process on its head. For instance, Jason and I chat regularly, which gives me a pulse of what’s important right now—where there’s energy or frustration. We talk through what I’m shaping, too, which is a great feedback loop.
You can’t know where shaping will take you. You don’t want to know either!
Some pitches come together in an hour, others take a long, winding path over weeks or months. Keep your route flexible and leave room for twists and surprises along the way.
The next six weeks are fluid. Ideas that seemed straightforward turn out to have hidden complexities that push them beyond our appetite. A solution that sounded brilliant at first ends up being too much for too little. A customer or coworker shares a long-running frustration and suddenly the way to solve it snaps into focus and becomes a pitch.
Many ideas never turn into pitches, and many pitches that reach the betting table, never get built.
I’ve talked with a few companies recently who’ve adopted Shape Up and only shape what they’ve already decided to build. Instead of choosing from a collection of shaped ideas at the betting table, a sort of ad-hoc betting table happens before shaping even starts. The decision is made to build this feature or improve that one next cycle. Now that it’s decided, it’s time to shape it so it’s ready to go.
When a small team is building a new product, that approach makes sense. There's a long list of things you know the product needs, both novel features and foundational things like account management or notifications. Pick the next priority, shape it, and go.
For established products, though, it limits creativity and flexibility, and often leads to building things that shouldn’t have been built. Shaping is when you dig into the problem, not just the solution. Maybe it’s not as significant as you thought, or customers are quite happy with the workaround they’re using. You might realize that solving this problem brings with it a whole other set of expectations or will limit your options in the future.
If the decision has been made to build this thing regardless, you skip all of that and focus on the solution without fully understanding the demand side. Committing in advance turns shaping into a fixed time/fixed scope process. You should be able to follow an idea to unexpected places, and even set it aside for awhile if it’s not working.
This approach is often because shaping is constrained. There’s not enough time to shape multiple options for the betting table, and there’s no time for dead ends or switching to a more promising idea after spending a week on another. Those constraints are real, especially when the team is small, but there are almost always ways to rethink priorities and where time is being spent. If shaping is a side hustle, both the process and the product suffer.
Another common cause is when there’s a disconnect at the betting table and the question is asked, Why were these things shaped and not these other, more important things?
If shaping isn’t aligned with the priorities of the business, there are many ways to recalibrate before flipping the process on its head. For instance, Jason and I chat regularly, which gives me a pulse of what’s important right now—where there’s energy or frustration. We talk through what I’m shaping, too, which is a great feedback loop.
You can’t know where shaping will take you. You don’t want to know either!
Some pitches come together in an hour, others take a long, winding path over weeks or months. Keep your route flexible and leave room for twists and surprises along the way.