II.
Methodology overview
Reference · livemethodology:basecamp-method
Basecamp Method (Shape Up) overview
The organizational methodology behind Shape Up, practiced at Basecamp/37signals. Operates in six-week cycles with a two-week cooldown. Small teams (1 designer + 1-2 programmers) get shaped pitches with fixed time/variable scope. No backlogs, no estimation — bets are placed each cycle. Emphasizes appetite over estimates, hill charts for progress tracking, and circuit breakers to kill stalled projects.
Attributes
displayName
Basecamp Method (Shape Up)
description
The organizational methodology behind Shape Up, practiced at Basecamp/37signals.
Operates in six-week cycles with a two-week cooldown. Small teams (1 designer +
1-2 programmers) get shaped pitches with fixed time/variable scope. No backlogs,
no estimation — bets are placed each cycle. Emphasizes appetite over estimates,
hill charts for progress tracking, and circuit breakers to kill stalled projects.
methodologyKind
agile
origin
Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson, Ryan Singer
yearIntroduced
2019
Outgoing edges
applies_to2
- domain:software-engineering·DomainSoftware Engineering
- domain:project-management·DomainProject Management
Incoming edges
None.