Hi there, I am new to this forum and quite new to the Shape Up method! The last few years I have been studying and implementing Lean Software Development at my company. When I came across Shape Up, not only did everything immediately make a lot of sense, but also the similarities were striking. So much so that I see Shape Up almost as a variant or specific implementation of Lean.
Here are some example of what I’m referring to:
Making Work Ready
Lean has the notion of “making work ready”, where prior to building a separate team dives into understanding the problem and user need in detail. They try to figure out what the envisioned feature/functionality needs to do and try to break it up into smaller pieces. These are usually in the form of user stories. This is of course very similar to Shaping - one difference being that splitting up the work is left to the building team, but they are very comparable in terms of their aim. As a side note, Shaping is much a more elegant term and also a slightly better approach IMO!
Timeboxing vs Scopeboxing
It’s a general concept in Lean that you work back from a deadline to determine the scope and not the other way round. So instead of planning what you want to build and then trying to estimate a schedule, you start with a schedule and scope what you want to build to fit that schedule. The parallels to Shape Up are very obvious.
Anyway, I am curious to hear other’s and of course Ryan’s thoughts on this. Do you also see these parallels? Are they coincidental or was there some inspiration from Lean?
Shape Up has some principles that are reminiscent of other frameworks and methodologies. This makes sense because there were some ideas in previous methodologies that worked. For example, cycles for feedback loops and keeping the deadline near.
Regarding Lean, it depends very much on how it is implemented.
The primary principle of lean is to not generate any waste, and sometimes that means that teams don’t take any upfront decisions until they are needed.
Shape Up goes against that idea. Shape Up is about discovering the unknowns and making some decisions before entering the building cycle because the risks can’t be too great and can put the whole project in danger.
Also, the tasks in a Lean methodology get prioritized constantly; that doesn’t happen in Shape Up. On Shape Up, you have what is called “deliberate allocation”.
A project is important, so the team is protected from any interruptions or priority changes for the whole building cycle.
Thanks for the welcome!
Yeah, I’ve been learning more about Shape Up and it’s origins at it seems like there is no direct inspiration form Lean. It’s fascinating to see how different people and teams figure out what works independently and then converge on similar methodologies. It shows that there is probably some deeper truth to some of these concepts!
Regarding Lean, it depends very much on how it is implemented.
The primary principle of lean is to not generate any waste, and sometimes that means that teams don’t take any upfront decisions until they are needed.
Absolutely! I am basing my understanding and implementation of Lean mostly on the book " Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are not the Point" by Mary and Tom Poppendieck (interesting read btw).
I think what you mention regarding making decisions here mostly applies to what Shape Up calls R&D mode, i.e. you are not quite sure yet what you are building. In this case you don’t want to commit to hard-to-reverse architectural decisions too early. When it is more clear what you are building, Lean recommends to identify and tackle the biggest risks & constraints first, so again very similar to Shape Up.
In terms of eliminating waste, I see a great parallels as well. One aspect of shaping is to not over-shape, i.e. not designing too many details upfront in order to avoid waste.
Anyway, I am not trying to make a point here, I just find it very interesting seeing these parallels!