Six-week cycles, fixed time / variable scope. Basecamp's method for small, experienced teams — and where we use it.
Category · Project Management
Six weeks, fixed time.
Shape Up is Basecamp's method: work runs in six-week cycles followed by a two-week cooldown. The principle is inverted from estimation — the time is fixed, the scope variable (appetite rather than estimate).
Before the cycle, a piece of work is "shaped": rough enough to leave room, concrete enough to have named the risks. During the cycle the team itself decides how to make good on the promise.
Who it fits.
Shape Up is made for small, experienced teams that can cut scope on their own. We pick it up where a well-defined undertaking has to fit a clear time frame and endless re-polishing must be avoided — what fits in six weeks gets done, the rest is deliberately dropped.
Limits of the method.
It works poorly with junior teams that can't yet cut scope, and with work that doesn't divide into clean packages. If you need fixed delivery dates for many small requirements, you're more honest with Kanban or Scrum.