Ryan Singer's Shape Up: A Practical Guide

Frustrated with endless sprints and building the wrong things? Ryan Singer's Shape Up offers a refreshing alternative. Born from Basecamp's own struggles, the Shape Up methodology emphasizes fixed six-week cycles and empowered teams. This article explores how quality assurance (QA) fits into a Shape Up workflow, offering practical advice from teams who've ditched Scrum for something better. We'll cover everything from unit testing to bug management, helping you integrate QA seamlessly into Ryan Singer Shape Up.

Thousands of engineering teams at big and small companies are switching to Shape Up after frustration with their current product development methodology: Too much busywork, too much planning, too frequently stressed out and overworked building features that nobody cares about. The dominant methodologies treat software development as a factory assembly-line process; that might be fine in an actual factory, but it’s not the way to build software that customers love.

Shape Up, and Ryan’s next venture Shaping in Real Life, describe the development theory and process. QA, our domain and expertise area, isn’t discussed in Shape Up, though. Because we’re fans of Ryan, Basecamp, and Shape Up – and because many of our customers use Shape Up – we’ve spent the past few weeks exploring one question: “How does QA fit into Shape Up?”

In doing this, we’ve talked to small and large engineering teams - from our customer base and beyond. We hope you find this helpful if you are using, or considering, the Shape Up methodology.

Shape Up: A Quick Overview

If you’re not familiar with Shape Up, we recommend reading:

1. The Shape Up book, which is free online (as well as anything else from Ryan Singer)
2. This quick primer on Shape Up from AgileFirst
3. Klaus Breyer’s writing for a deeper dive

Those are the formal definitions. Here’s how we talk about Shape Up internally and to founder friends:

It’s a different way of thinking about product development. Instead of trying to scope tons of tickets into sprints, Shape Up is designed around a 6-week development cycle where an engineer/small team can get a solid project done. There are nuances like “fixed time, variable scope” as well as specific “betting” and “shaping” approaches for prioritizing and designing solutions, which are also helpful.

Here’s how we’ve seen teams implementing Shape Up think about delivery and QA:

Key Takeaways

• Shape Up streamlines product development: The six-week cycle allows teams to focus on building complete, well-defined projects, rather than getting lost in granular sprint planning. This promotes efficient delivery and reduces developer burnout.
• Continuous testing is essential, even with longer cycles: Many Shape Up teams still practice continuous delivery, requiring a robust testing strategy. Prioritize a mix of unit, manual, and end-to-end testing to maintain quality throughout the development process.
• Consider dedicated resources for end-to-end testing: Automating end-to-end tests can be a significant undertaking. Free up your product teams by assigning a dedicated internal team or leveraging a service like MuukTest to manage this crucial aspect of quality assurance.

What is Shape Up?

Shape Up is a software development methodology created by Ryan Singer during his time at Basecamp. It emphasizes flexibility, autonomy, and a focus on building the right things. Unlike traditional agile methods like Scrum, which can get bogged down in detailed sprint planning, Shape Up prioritizes defining clear project boundaries and empowering teams to make decisions within those boundaries. It’s designed to be more adaptable to change and less reliant on rigid, upfront planning.

The Six-Week Cycle

One of Shape Up’s core tenets is its six-week cycle. This timeframe provides enough space for a small team to tackle a meaningful project without getting lost in the weeds. As Klaus Breyer points out, the six-week cycle allows for a "solid project" to be completed within a reasonable timeframe. This differs from shorter sprints, which can sometimes feel too constrained, and longer cycles, which can lose momentum.

Risk Management in Shape Up

Shape Up places a strong emphasis on risk management. By clearly defining the boundaries of a project upfront, teams can better anticipate potential roadblocks and make informed decisions. This proactive approach to risk management helps minimize surprises and keep projects on track. It also gives teams a greater sense of ownership and responsibility.

Ryan Singer: The Mind Behind Shape Up

Ryan Singer is the architect of the Shape Up methodology. His extensive experience in product strategy, engineering, and design has shaped the way many teams approach software development. He's known for his pragmatic approach and focus on building products that are both user-friendly and commercially successful.

Two Decades of Experience

With over 20 years of experience in the tech industry, Ryan Singer brings a wealth of knowledge and practical insights to the Shape Up methodology. His background spans product development, engineering, and strategy, giving him a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities of building software. Learn more about Ryan's background and current work.

17 Years at Basecamp

Ryan Singer spent 17 years as the Head of Strategy at Basecamp, where he honed his skills and developed the Shape Up methodology. His time at Basecamp provided a real-world testing ground for his ideas, allowing him to refine and perfect the Shape Up process. This experience is reflected in the practical and actionable nature of the methodology.

Beyond Basecamp: Consulting and Shaping

Since leaving Basecamp, Ryan has continued to share his expertise through consulting and his work with Shaping in Real Life. He continues to be a leading voice in the software development community, advocating for a more thoughtful and sustainable approach to building products. Check out his website for more resources on Shape Up.

Key Principles of Shape Up

Shape Up is built on a foundation of key principles that guide the entire development process. These principles emphasize clear communication, team empowerment, and adaptability.

Clear Communication and Defined Goals

Effective communication is essential for any successful project, and Shape Up recognizes this. The methodology emphasizes clearly defined goals and open communication between team members. This ensures that everyone is on the same page and working towards a shared understanding of the project's objectives. As the Basecamp team explains, this clarity is crucial for Shape Up's success.

Team Empowerment and Ownership

Shape Up empowers teams to take ownership of their projects. By giving teams the autonomy to make decisions within defined boundaries, they become more invested in the outcome and more likely to produce high-quality work. This sense of ownership fosters a more collaborative and productive work environment.

Flexibility and Adaptability

The software development landscape is constantly evolving, and Shape Up is designed to be adaptable. It's not a rigid set of rules, but rather a toolbox of practices that can be adapted to fit different team structures and project requirements. Ryan Singer designed Shape Up as a flexible and adaptable system, allowing teams to tailor the methodology to their specific needs.

Shape Up and Delivery: A Practical Guide

First, how do teams use Shape Up when releasing software? You might think that, because developers are on 6-week cycles, they just release every 6 weeks.

You might also think that these teams’ DORA metrics are irrelevant - that they’re not prioritizing delivery performance because if they’re releasing once every six weeks, who cares if it takes a few days to get from code to production?

This was our first hunch - but we were very wrong.

More often developers are constantly pushing code throughout their development cycle. They push smaller amounts of code, daily or even multiple times per day. They are either doing true continuous delivery or close to it.

This means testing is key and has to be both fast and comprehensive.

We’ve broken out testing approaches in four different categories:

1. Unit testing
2. Manual testing
3. End-to-end testing
4. Bug-handling

Defining Scope and Boundaries

One of Shape Up’s core principles is its six-week development cycle. This timeframe allows a small team, or even an individual engineer, to focus and complete a well-defined project. It’s not about squeezing in as much as possible; it’s about giving teams space to produce high-quality work within a reasonable timeframe. This “fixed time, variable scope” approach is key. Instead of rigidly sticking to a pre-determined list of features, Shape Up allows flexibility, adjusting deliverables as needed to fit within the six-week cycle. This doesn’t mean anything goes. Projects are carefully defined during the shaping process (more on that later). This upfront work helps teams establish clear boundaries and make informed decisions about what’s realistically achievable within that timeframe. It’s about setting realistic expectations and empowering teams to deliver value without constant overwhelm.

The Three-Part Structure: Shaping, Betting, Building

Shape Up revolves around three phases: Shaping, Betting, and Building. The Shape Up book details each phase. Shaping lays the groundwork: defining the problem, exploring potential solutions, and crafting a project “pitch.” This pitch outlines goals, boundaries, and potential risks. It’s not about detailed specs; it’s about providing just enough information to get the team started. Think rough sketch, not blueprint. Betting is where stakeholders review shaped projects and decide which ones get funded for the upcoming cycle. This prioritizes work and ensures focus on high-impact projects. It’s a collaborative process, carefully considering each project’s potential risks and rewards. Building is where development happens. Teams take the shaped and bet-upon projects and bring them to life. The fixed time box and clearly defined scope provide a framework for focused work, enabling efficient value delivery.

From Concept to Delivery: A Step-by-Step Guide

The Shape Up process, from concept to delivery, is designed for efficiency and clarity. It starts with shaping, where raw ideas become defined project pitches. These pitches are presented during betting, where stakeholders choose projects for the upcoming six-week cycle. Once chosen, the building phase begins. Teams work within the fixed time box, focusing on a valuable product increment. This video provides a great overview. Throughout, communication and collaboration are essential. Regular check-ins and feedback loops keep everyone aligned and the project on track. Shape Up emphasizes adapting to change. The fixed time box encourages smart decisions about scope and prioritizing essential features. It’s not about rigidly following a plan, but about delivering value within constraints. This iterative approach allows flexibility and ensures the final product meets user needs.

Unit Testing with Shape Up

Not surprising: Every company we talked to, developers are responsible for unit testing.

Earlier-stage startups with small development teams admitted their teams didn’t always cover their code with unit tests. Some larger teams admitted to this too.

But everyone agreed, in theory: Unit tests are the developers’ responsibility.

Manual Testing with Shape Up

When the code is done, in theory, who’s responsible for playing with the new feature to make sure it works as intended?

This, too, is usually handled by development teams.

One CTO - Juani Villarejo from Nulinga - described a big and important feature that one of his teams was working on. Because of the feature’s importance, he budgeted a few weeks of testing into the feature’s appetite. 

However, we have seen examples of a QA sitting outside the product teams, whose sole responsibility is to manually test every new PR before production to try to find bugs. This makes the QA a single point of failure – and the more people who are frequently deploying, the harder this QA’s job is. The QA can’t automate end-to-end tests (see next) – and the second they go on a much-needed vacation, the team is in bad shape. When teams have manual QAs who exist outside the product teams, they typically view it as an intermediary step before they invest in or complete end-to-end test automation.

End-to-End Testing with Shape Up

Every team using Shape Up we spoke to that had end-to-end test automation structured a separate team (or used a service like MuukTest). This was not part of their core product teams.

The goal of an end-to-end test automation team was to create and maintain a suite of automated tests that cover the majority of their software’s “happy paths” and core functionality. In our conversations, this test suite was integrated into their development lifecycle in one of three different ways:

1. Running daily in the background against a testing environment, but not a blocker to production. Teams receive bug reports daily. (See “bug-handling” section below)
2. Running in their test environment prior to deploying to give a “green light”, after developers manually test features, to make sure new features don’t break old features and core functionality.
3. Running in their CI/CD against every PR, often using an ephemeral environments solution like Shipyard

Most teams philosophically preferred to have test automation engineers in-house, but many had outsourced this role to a specialized / AI service like MuukTest after seeing how much work it was to automate and maintain a test automation suite. (Without this, teams needed to invest 15-20%+ of their engineering budgets into QA automation to get to full coverage; with MuukTest, they get a fully maintained test suite for half the cost of a QA engineer)

Bug Management in Shape Up

Juani (CTO of Nulinga) explained this best, reflecting how most teams approached bugs that emerged despite testing’s best efforts after the 6-week cycle was completed.

At Nulinga, one of the Shape Up teams is focused on “reactive” work during a 6-week cycle, which includes bugs and technical debt. In different cycles, different teams get this role. This is an elegant solution, but not ideal: 1/N of their engineering teams is always fixing bugs and technical debt, not building new things that add differentiated value. But hey - this is way better than *every* team scrambling half the time!

What We Learned About Shape Up

As we continue working with teams that have implemented Shape Up on their end-to-end QA automation, I’m sure we’ll learn more and share more. (We’re also moving towards Shape Up ourselves - more to come!)

If you have a different opinion or a story to share or just want to learn more about how MuukTest can help your team *avoid* spending a ton of time worrying about building and maintaining end-to-end tests… reach out!

Evolution of Shape Up: Shaping in Real Life

Shape Up is a living methodology. Ryan Singer, its creator, continues to refine and expand upon its principles. A key development is "Shaping in Real Life." This builds upon the original Shape Up concepts with more practical guidance for real-world challenges. It helps teams ditch ineffective best practices and focus on the right problems, so you can ship projects worth celebrating. This evolution emphasizes continuous learning and adaptation in product development. Learn more about Shaping in Real Life.

Framing and Systemizing Kick-off

Shaping in Real Life emphasizes the kick-off process, providing structure for framing problems and systematizing how projects begin. This helps teams avoid common pitfalls and ensures everyone starts with a shared understanding of goals and scope. A well-defined kick-off sets the stage for smoother collaboration and more effective execution. This structured approach is especially helpful for teams transitioning to Shape Up, offering a clear roadmap. Learn more about the kick-off process in Shape Up.

Where to Learn More About Shape Up

Want to explore Shape Up further? Here are some resources:

Ryan Singer's Website

Ryan Singer's website is a goldmine of information. With over 20 years of experience, he shares insights on product, engineering, and strategy. It's a valuable resource for learning about Shape Up's practical application, with information on product thinking, design, and development grounded in real-world experience.

The Shape Up Book: Online, PDF, and Print

The Shape Up book is essential reading. Available online, as a PDF, and in print, it's a comprehensive guide to the methodology. It's a toolbox of adaptable practices, not a rigid process, making it suitable for different company structures. It provides valuable insights and practical tools for improving your product development process.

Introductory Video

For a quick overview, watch the introductory video on Ryan Singer's website. It explains the methodology and its core principles. It's a great starting point if you're curious about Shape Up and how it helps teams deliver projects effectively. It's a quick way to grasp the fundamentals before diving deeper.

Related Articles

• How Engineering Teams Can Use “Shape Up” for Software Testing
• A Practical Guide to Software Test Plan Example
• Software Test Plan Template: Develop & Launch Flawlessly
• Your Ultimate Guide to Software Testing and Quality Assurance
• Testing for Unreleased Software Products: A How-To

Frequently Asked Questions

How does Shape Up differ from other software development methodologies like Scrum?

Shape Up prioritizes clearly defined project boundaries and empowers teams to make decisions within those boundaries over rigid sprint planning. It's designed to be more adaptable to change and less reliant on upfront planning than Scrum, focusing on a six-week cycle to complete a meaningful project. This allows for flexibility while maintaining a reasonable timeframe for delivery.

What are the key phases in the Shape Up methodology?

Shape Up consists of three main phases: Shaping, Betting, and Building. Shaping involves defining the problem and crafting a project pitch. Betting is where stakeholders decide which projects get funded. Building is the execution phase where the chosen projects are developed within the six-week timeframe.

How does QA testing fit into the Shape Up process?

While Shape Up itself doesn't explicitly detail QA, teams typically integrate various testing methods. Developers often handle unit and manual testing. Many teams also utilize a separate team or service for end-to-end testing, which can be integrated into the development lifecycle in several ways, such as daily automated tests or pre-deployment checks. Bug handling is often managed by a dedicated team within a six-week cycle.

What is the role of Ryan Singer in developing Shape Up?

Ryan Singer, drawing from his extensive experience at Basecamp, created the Shape Up methodology. His focus on practical application and building user-friendly products is reflected in Shape Up's principles. He continues to refine and expand the methodology through his work with Shaping in Real Life.

Where can I find more resources to learn about Shape Up?

Ryan Singer's website, the Shape Up book (available online, as a PDF, and in print), and introductory videos offer comprehensive information on the methodology, its principles, and practical applications. These resources provide valuable insights for anyone interested in implementing or learning more about Shape Up.