Shape Up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work that Matters

Shape Up is a product development methodology that combines shaping, betting, and building cycles. Shaping defines problems and solutions at the right level of abstraction, using rough sketches and bounded scopes. Betting replaces backlogs with a six-week cycle system, where stakeholders select projects from shaped pitches. Building gives teams full responsibility, with work organized into independent scopes and tracked on a hill chart. The book covers risk management through de-risking rabbit holes, scope hammering to control scope creep, and a circuit breaker for projects that can't finish in one cycle. It also addresses different modes like R&D and cleanup, and how to adapt the process to team size.