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Ryan Singer is one of the earliest employees and the former Head of Strategy at 37signals (the makers of Basecamp), where he spent nearly two decades refining a product development approach that helped the company build super-successful products with small teams. Based on these lessons, he wrote "Shape Up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work that Matters," and Ryan now works with companies of all sizes to help them escape the cycle of endless sprints, missed deadlines, and dragging projects. What you’ll learn: 1. Why traditional Agile and Scrum methods often lead teams into endless cycles of work without meaningful shipping milestones. 2. The “appetite-driven” approach to product development where teams set fixed timeboxes (usually six weeks maximum) and vary the scope instead of expanding timelines. 3. The exact process for running effective “shaping” sessions that collaboratively define projects before committing resources. 4. Why most teams struggle with too little detail in their planning, not too much. 5. Why a 30-to-50-person team size is the critical breaking point when growing startups need to adopt more structured processes. 6. Practical techniques for bridging the engineering-design divide by bringing technical and product perspectives together earlier in the process. 7. The powerful “breadboarding” and “fat marker sketching” techniques that help teams align on solutions without getting lost in high-fidelity details. 8. The clear warning signs that your current development process is failing before it’s too late to change course. 9. Proven strategies to implement Shape Up methods, whether you’re working in a startup or enterprise environment. 10. A step-by-step approach to transitioning from Scrum to Shape Up by piloting the methodology with a single team before broader implementation. 11. Why the PM role shifts upstream in Shape Up, focusing more on problem definition than project management. 12. How to adapt Shape Up principles to your company’s unique context, even if it’s nothing like Basecamp. — Brought to you by: • WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs: https://workos.com/lenny • Merge—A single API to add hundreds of integrations into your app: http://merge.dev/lenny • Airtable ProductCentral—Launch to new heights with a unified system for product development: https://www.airtable.com/lenny Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/shape-up-ryan-singer Where to find Ryan Singer: • X: https://x.com/rjs • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/feltpresence/ • Website: https://www.ryansinger.co/ • Course: https://www.ryansinger.co/srl/ Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Ryan’s background (04:38) The origins of Shape Up (07:40) Implementing Shape Up in different companies (09:56) How Shape Up is different (19:02) The core elements of Shape Up (26:29) Shaping sessions and timeboxing (37:23) Flexible sprint planning (38:56) The output of a shaping session (46:57) Balancing detail and flexibility (53:50) A deep dive into shaping sessions (01:01:32) Fat marker sketches (01:02:48) Getting started using Shape Up (01:13:20) Signs it's time to try the Shape Up method (01:18:25) Feature factories (01:25:59) The role of the PM in Shape Up (01:28:26) What makes Basecamp unique (01:35:55) The second edition of the book (01:38:30) Linking product strategy and shaping (01:41:53) Conclusion and final thoughts Referenced: • Basecamp: https://basecamp.com/ • David Heinemeier Hansson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-heinemeier-hansson-374b18221/ • Jason Fried on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-fried/ • Jason Fried challenges your thinking on fundraising, goals, growth, and more: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/jason-fried-challenges-your-thinking • Des Traynor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/destraynor/ • Intercom: https://www.intercom.com/ ...References continued at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/shape-up-ryan-singer Recommended books: • Shape Up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work That Matters: https://basecamp.com/shapeup • Demand-Side Sales 101: Stop Selling and Help Your Customers Make Progress: https://www.amazon.com/Demand-Side-Sales-101-Customers-Progress/dp/1544509987/ • Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice: https://www.amazon.com/Competing-Against-Luck-Innovation-Customer/dp/0062435612/ • Job Moves: 9 Steps for Making Progress in Your Career: https://www.amazon.com/Job-Moves-Making-Progress-Career/dp/0063283581 Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

A podcast by 37signals about the better way to work and run your business. Featuring Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, cofounders of 37signals (makers of Basecamp and HEY) and authors of books REWORK and It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work. Hosted by 37signals' employee Kimberly Rhodes.

💰 Mentorship to six figure software engineer - https://calcur.tech/mentorship ⚙️ Backend Engineering Mind Map - https://calcur.tech/mindmap 💻 System Design Playlist - https://calcur.tech/system-design Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:23 - Why use Elixir 00:03:48 - Installation and Setup 00:07:15 - Intro to Mix 00:09:02 - Overview of Elixir Files 00:10:52 - Running and Elixir Script 00:13:40 - Compiling Elixir 00:16:36 - Running an Elixir Application 00:23:29 - Intro to Hex 00:25:40 - Basic Types 00:26:53 - Creating a Variable 00:27:52 - Module Attributes 00:29:01 - Atoms and Strings 00:35:35 - Strings 00:38:40 - More about Hex 00:39:49 - Numbers 00:47:39 - Compound Types 00:47:53 - Dates and Times 00:50:50 - Example App - Time Until the New Year 00:56:27 - Tuples 01:01:59 - Lists and Loops 01:04:15 - Mapping 01:04:47 - Structs 01:11:46 - Building a Guessing Game - Taking User Input 01:14:00 - if Statements 01:15:07 - Random Number 01:16:26 - Docs and Arity 01:17:28 - Cases and Errors 01:19:19 - Case 01:22:23 - Lists 01:24:16 - Append and Prepend 01:25:29 - Comprehensions with Conditions 01:27:22 - Functional Programming 01:30:07 - Defining Custom Functions 01:34:41 - What’s Next? 💯 FREE Courses (100+ hours) - https://calcur.tech/free-courses 🏆 C++ Mastery Course - https://calcur.tech/cpp-mastery 🐍 Backend Python Course - https://calcur.tech/backend-python 🥇 Python Mastery Course - https://calcur.tech/python-mastery ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONNECT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✉️ Newsletter - https://calcur.tech/newsletter 📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/CalebCurry 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/calebCurry 🔗 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebcurry ▶️ Subscribe - http://calcur.tech/subscribe 👨🏻‍🎓 Courses - https://www.codebreakthrough.com 🅿 Patreon - http://calcur.tech/patreon-calebcurry

Learn DevOps fast in this crash course covering Git & GitHub, CI/CD pipelines, Docker, Kubernetes, IaC, and API deployment. Everything you need to automate dev and deployment. ⭐ Join JS Mastery Pro: https://jsm.dev/dops25-jsm 💎 Become a Top 1% Next.js Developer: https://jsm.dev/dops25-nextjs 📘 Become a member to access the Kubernetes Handbook + YAML & GitHub Actions cheatsheets: https://www.youtube.com/@javascriptmastery/join Use your promo code JAVA to get the Warp Pro plan for only $1, available for a limited time thanks to my friends at Warp! Warp: https://jsm.dev/dops25-warp Arcjet: https://jsm.dev/dops25-arcjet Neon: https://jsm.dev/dops25-neon 📁 FREE Video Kit (Code, Figma, Assets, Etc.): https://jsm.dev/dops25-kit 📙 Git & GitHub Course: https://jsm.dev/dops25-git 📘 Docker Course: https://jsm.dev/dops25-docker 📘 Backend Pro Course Waitlist: https://jsm.dev/dops25-backpro 📘 Tailwind Pro Course Waitlist: https://jsm.dev/dops25-twpro 📘 React.js Pro Course Waitlist: https://jsm.dev/dops25-reactpro 📘 React Native Pro Course Waitlist: https://jsm.dev/dops25-rnpro Rate us on TrustPilot: https://jsm.dev/trustpilot https://discord.com/invite/n6EdbFJ https://twitter.com/jsmasterypro https://instagram.com/javascriptmastery https://linkedin.com/company/javascriptmastery Business Inquiries: contact@jsmastery.pro Time Stamps: 00:00:00 — Introduction 00:06:04 — Introduction to DevOps 00:09:45 — What is DevOps 00:20:41 — What You Need to Learn in DevOps 00:25:42 — Version Control (Git & GitHub) 00:50:33 — CI/CD Pipelines 00:55:06 — Build Your First Pipeline 01:03:21 — Docker 01:55:39 — Kubernetes 02:03:35 — Kubernetes Demo 02:26:34 — Infrastructure as Code (IaC) 02:29:37 — More on DevOps Build & Deploy an API 02:30:49 — Setup 02:41:44 — ESLint Prettier 02:46:09 — Database Setup 02:54:18 — Logger & Middleware 03:05:15 — Authentication I 03:35:56 — Warp Setup 03:47:53 — Security Middleware 04:03:11 — Dockerization 04:21:49 — User CRUD 04:38:50 — Testing 04:48:35 — Next Steps

💰 Mentorship to six figure software engineer - https://calcur.tech/mentorship ⚙️ Backend Engineering Mind Map - https://calcur.tech/mindmap 💻 System Design Playlist - https://calcur.tech/system-design Elixir Programming Introduction - https://youtu.be/-lgtb-YSUWE Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:20 - What is Elixir Phoenix 00:03:38 - MVC Pattern 00:05:49 - Installation 00:08:25 - Project Structure 00:10:03 - Main files 00:11:08 - Other Folders 00:12:12 - Create a Repo 00:13:59 - Basic Application Architecture 00:16:12 - Adding a New Page with Mock Data 00:22:24 - Creating an API 00:22:49 - Working with the Database 00:31:53 - Routes 00:32:48 - Updating a Resource 00:34:45 - Delete 00:35:23 - Users and Relationships 00:36:01 - Update the Model 00:37:23 - Making the association in models 00:40:25 - Nested Data in API Calls 00:43:17 - Get a User’s Posts 00:48:21 - Conclusion 💯 FREE Courses (100+ hours) - https://calcur.tech/free-courses 🏆 C++ Mastery Course - https://calcur.tech/cpp-mastery 🐍 Backend Python Course - https://calcur.tech/backend-python 🥇 Python Mastery Course - https://calcur.tech/python-mastery ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONNECT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✉️ Newsletter - https://calcur.tech/newsletter 📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/CalebCurry 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/calebCurry 🔗 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebcurry ▶️ Subscribe - http://calcur.tech/subscribe 👨🏻‍🎓 Courses - https://www.codebreakthrough.com 🅿 Patreon - http://calcur.tech/patreon-calebcurry