shape-up
Use when asked to "shape up", "run a shaping session", "set an appetite", "scope a project without estimates", "betting table", or "ship in fixed cycles". Helps teams escape estimate-driven development and Scrum fatigue. The Shape Up method (created by Ryan Singer at Basecamp/37signals) uses fixed time boxes, variable scope, and collaborative shaping to ship meaningful work predictably.
What this skill does
## Domain Context This skill implements a proven product management framework. The approach combines best practices from industry leaders and is designed for practical application in day-to-day PM work. ## Input Requirements - Context about your product, feature, or problem - Relevant data, research, or constraints (recommended but optional) - Clear articulation of what you're trying to achieve # Shape Up ## What It Is Shape Up is a product development methodology built on one core insight: **you cannot estimate your way to shipping—you must shape your way there.** Traditional approaches ask "How long will this take?" and then try to hit that estimate. Shape Up flips this: decide upfront how much time you're willing to spend (the *appetite*), then shape a version of the solution that fits within that constraint. The methodology emerged from 17 years of building Basecamp, where the founding team faced an unusual constraint: their only engineer (DHH) worked just 10 hours per week. This forced extreme clarity about what to build and ruthless scoping to ensure every hour counted. **The key shift:** Move from "What's the estimate for this?" to "What version of this can we confidently ship in the time we're willing to spend?" ## When to Use It Use Shape Up when you need to: - **Stop projects from dragging** — work that should take weeks is taking months - **Escape the estimate trap** — you're tired of estimates that are always wrong - **Give teams real autonomy** — not just ticket execution - **Reduce meeting overhead** — Scrum rituals are consuming your time - **Ship meaningful chunks** — not just incremental tickets - **Align product and engineering** — there's a wall between them today - **Maintain startup speed** — as you scale past 30-50 people ## When Not to Use It - You're 3 people or fewer — just talk to each other - There's no real complexity - You can't get engineering into shaping - Leadership isn't bought in - You're doing pure maintenance ## Resources **Books:** - *Shape Up* by Ryan Singer (free at basecamp.com/shapeup) - *Demand-Side Sales 101* by Bob Moesta ## Further Reading - [Shape Up](https://www.productcompass.pm/p/shape-up)
Related in General
modeling-omnistudio-epc-catalog
IncludedSalesforce Industries CME EPC product-modeling skill for Product2-based catalog creation. Use when creating EPC products, configuring product attributes, building offer bundles with Product Child Items, or reviewing EPC DataPack JSON metadata for product catalog changes. TRIGGER when: user creates or updates Product2 EPC records, AttributeAssignment payloads, AttributeMetadata/AttributeDefaultValues, Offer bundles, or ProductChildItem relationships. DO NOT TRIGGER when: designing OmniScripts/FlexCards/Integration Procedures (use building-omnistudio-omniscript, building-omnistudio-flexcard, or building-omnistudio-integration-procedure), implementing Apex business logic (use generating-apex), or troubleshooting deployment pipelines (use deploying-metadata).
relationship-science-coach
IncludedUse this skill for direct, practical adult relationship coaching: couples conflict, repair, trust, marriage, dating, flirting, attachment patterns, emotional connection, sex, desire differences, eroticism, kink negotiation, affection, love languages, breakups, and long-term passion. Draw on Gottman, EFT and Hold Me Tight, attachment science, modern sex research, Perel, Nagoski, Kerner, Schnarch, Love and Stosny, and flexible love-language tools. Be concrete and low-hedge. Redirect only for imminent danger, abuse, coercive control, minors, non-consent, self-harm, stalking, or medical/legal/psychiatric decisions.
building-sf-integrations
IncludedSalesforce integration architecture and runtime plumbing with 120-point scoring. Use this skill to set up Named Credentials, External Credentials, External Services, REST/SOAP callout patterns, Platform Events, and Change Data Capture. TRIGGER when: user sets up Named Credentials, External Services, REST/SOAP callouts, Platform Events, CDC, or touches .namedCredential-meta.xml files. DO NOT TRIGGER when: Connected App/OAuth config (use configuring-connected-apps), Apex-only logic (use generating-apex), or data import/export (use handling-sf-data).
venue-templates
IncludedAccess comprehensive LaTeX templates, formatting requirements, and submission guidelines for major scientific publication venues (Nature, Science, PLOS, IEEE, ACM), academic conferences (NeurIPS, ICML, CVPR, CHI), research posters, and grant proposals (NSF, NIH, DOE, DARPA). This skill should be used when preparing manuscripts for journal submission, conference papers, research posters, or grant proposals and need venue-specific formatting requirements and templates.
let-fate-decide
IncludedDraws the 12 Houses of the Zodiac Tarot spread to inject entropy into planning when prompts are vague, ambiguous, or casually delegated. Interprets the spread to guide next steps. Use when the user says 'let fate decide', 'YOLO', 'whatever', 'idk', or other nonchalant phrases, makes Yu-Gi-Oh references, or when you are about to arbitrarily pick between multiple reasonable approaches. Prefer over ask-questions-if-underspecified when the user's tone is casual or playful rather than precision-seeking.
net-ops
IncludedCross-platform network troubleshooting (Windows, macOS, Linux) via local or remote shell. Use for: DNS broken, can't resolve hostnames, nslookup/dig works but apps fail, NRPT, WFP, scutil, /etc/resolver, systemd-resolved, /etc/resolv.conf, NetworkManager, VPN DNS leak residue (ProtonVPN/Mullvad/WireGuard/AnyConnect), AV/firewall blocking DNS or DoH, Tailscale DNS interaction, intermittent connectivity, remote diagnostics over SSH.