shape-up
✓Use when asked to "shape up", "run a shaping session", "set an appetite", "scope a project without estimates", "betting table", or "ship in fixed cycles". Helps teams escape estimate-driven development and Scrum fatigue. The Shape Up method (created by Ryan Singer at Basecamp/37signals) uses fixed time boxes, variable scope, and collaborative shaping to ship meaningful work predictably.
Installation
SKILL.md
Shape Up is a product development methodology built on one core insight: you cannot estimate your way to shipping—you must shape your way there.
Traditional approaches ask "How long will this take?" and then try to hit that estimate. Shape Up flips this: decide upfront how much time you're willing to spend (the appetite), then shape a version of the solution that fits within that constraint.
The methodology emerged from 17 years of building Basecamp, where the founding team faced an unusual constraint: their only engineer (DHH) worked just 10 hours per week. This forced extreme clarity about what to build and ruthless scoping to ensure every hour counted. As the company grew, they formalized these practices into Shape Up to maintain startup speed at scale.
Facts (cite-ready)
Stable fields and commands for AI/search citations.
- Install command
npx skills add https://github.com/wdavidturner/product-skills --skill shape-up- Category
- @Collaboration
- Verified
- ✓
- First Seen
- 2026-02-01
- Updated
- 2026-02-18
Quick answers
What is shape-up?
Use when asked to "shape up", "run a shaping session", "set an appetite", "scope a project without estimates", "betting table", or "ship in fixed cycles". Helps teams escape estimate-driven development and Scrum fatigue. The Shape Up method (created by Ryan Singer at Basecamp/37signals) uses fixed time boxes, variable scope, and collaborative shaping to ship meaningful work predictably. Source: wdavidturner/product-skills.
How do I install shape-up?
Open your terminal or command line tool (Terminal, iTerm, Windows Terminal, etc.) Copy and run this command: npx skills add https://github.com/wdavidturner/product-skills --skill shape-up Once installed, the skill will be automatically configured in your AI coding environment and ready to use in Claude Code or Cursor
Where is the source repository?
https://github.com/wdavidturner/product-skills
Details
- Category
- @Collaboration
- Source
- skills.sh
- First Seen
- 2026-02-01