Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career cover image

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

A better way to plan, build, and ship products | Ryan Singer (creator of “Shape Up,” early employee at 37signals)

Mar 30, 2025
Ryan Singer, former Head of Strategy at 37signals and author of "Shape Up," shares his innovative approach to product development. He critiques traditional Agile methods for leading to endless cycles and introduces an appetite-driven strategy that sets fixed timelines. Singer emphasizes effective collaboration through shaping sessions and flexible team structures to clarify project goals. He highlights techniques like fat marker sketching to enhance communication and align engineering with design, making product development more efficient and empowering teams to thrive.
01:45:10

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Quick takeaways

  • The traditional Agile and Scrum methodologies often trap teams in endless cycles, hindering meaningful progress and timely product delivery.
  • An appetite-driven approach allows teams to set fixed timeboxes for projects, enabling flexibility in scope while committing to quality and timely outcomes.

Deep dives

The Importance of Shaping Sessions

Shaping sessions are critical in the product development process as they set the stage for what can realistically be accomplished within a given timeframe. By starting with a clear understanding of the end goal, teams can reverse engineer their approach to fit the time constraints they have. This method emphasizes the necessity of defining the maximum time they are willing to spend before beginning work rather than simply estimating how long a project will take. Such sessions encourage collaborative discourse among engineering, product, and design teams to clarify requirements and ensure a mutual understanding of the project’s objectives.

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