Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin
Shape Up: Product Development at Basecamp (basecamp.com)
49 points by codesuki on July 11, 2019 | hide | past | favorite | 2 comments


This is amazing. This is the most comprehensive write-up on software product development I've ever read. By anyone. And it's the only post on product development I've ever read in my entire life that has specific examples that aren't fiction.

Six week cycles? Ha. How nice it would be to work at a company that has a product, customers, and isn’t fucking insane. Remember, friends don’t let friends work for VC funded startups.

> We don’t count hours or question how individual days are spent. We don’t have daily meetings. We don’t rethink our roadmap every two weeks.

I think I've wasted the last 10 years of my life. Let's see 20 minute standup meeting every work day for the last 9 years. That's 20 * 5 * 48 * 9 / 60 = 720 hours of my life wasted in standup meetings.


I appreciated the section discussing the difference between “appetite” and “estimate”.




Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: