Shape Up, Ryan Singer, 2020

The book introduces a practical framework for managing product development with a focus on shaping work before execution, setting clear time boundaries, and empowering teams with ownership. Shape Up encourages avoiding backlogs, making bets instead of plans, and embracing uncertainty through structured but flexible processes.

Top 3 Learnings:

1. Work should be shaped before it’s handed to teams—finding the right balance between abstract and concrete by defining the problem, appetite, and solution while leaving room for creative problem-solving during execution.
2. Assign projects, not tasks—teams should own the entire problem end-to-end, self-organizing within vertical slices instead of being micromanaged.
3. Scoping is dynamic—scope grows naturally, and instead of rigidly defining it upfront, teams should have the authority and responsibility to continuously trim and adjust scope to ensure delivery within set time constraints.