Shaping the Work: Assigning Whole Projects, not Tasks - keynote
summary
Claims that teams ship reliably by assigning whole projects into a six-week time box staffed by 2–4 people, with work fixed time, variable scope. Shaping happens before the cycle: written pitches, a betting table, and rough sketches define a viable solution and appetite. Inside the cycle teams break imagined tasks into independent scopes, climb the “hill” to discover real tasks, and must deploy at the end; a two-week cooldown follows. Basecamp scales this across many cycles and reports consistent on-time deliveries.
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chapters (13)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:08Ryans background
- 8:10Time box
- 12:58Building a calendar
- 17:25Betting
- 20:36Timebox
- 28:49Cooldown
- 33:39Trial and Error
- 35:14Demos and Reviews
- 36:39Ideal Team Composition
- 38:59Tools of breaking down scope
- 41:04Missing features
- 42:29Questions
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