Duel-track Shape Up

Lately, I have talked to a lot of people about the shaping process of Shape Up. A common misunderstanding most have is that writing pitches are something you do in the last days leading up to the betting table, nothing could be more wrong.

Writing pitches is the most important part of Shape Up. It's the core of product management, it's in that process that you evaluate ideas, kill darlings and frame solutions. As product managers and designers you need to be shaping all the time, your core job is to shape! The concept of dual-track agile coined by Marty Cagan applies directly to teams running Shape Up. Marty Writes:

Remember that our higher order objective is to validate our ideas the fastest, cheapest way possible. Actually building and launching a product idea is generally the slowest, most expensive way to validate the idea.

So while you and your team are building the solutions for your current pitches, you need to be working on shaping pitches for the next cycle. Bad rushed pitches on the betting table will lead to bad decisions taken on the foundation of crappy work.