In the world of distributed systems, they say “Consistency, Availability, Partition tolerance. You can only ever get two – this is the CAP theorem”. In product engineering, we face a similar trilemma: in time, in scope, in budget. What's the smartest choice? Let's assume we pick in time and budget, stop feature creep, end endless meeting cycles, and revolutionize how we approach development.

Enter ShapeUp, a methodology from Basecamp I was introduced to in a bootstrapped US startup, where it unblocked our small team and enabled us to ship meaningful features again. A few years later I brought ShapeUp to a German VC-backed unicorn in the renewable energy sector. These environments couldn't be more different, yet ShapeUp was the magic wand that supercharged both engineering teams. This isn't about project management; it's about empowering engineers to ship value consistently.

Learn how we ditched Scrum ceremonies for focused, impactful development cycles. Discover how ShapeUp transforms software engineers into product engineers, fostering ownership and innovation. The secret sauce: we'll explore how cool-downs maintain velocity without sacrificing quality.