Shape Up
Shape Up by Ryan Singerby Ryan Singer
Ranked 3 of 12 management books by recommenders
Recommended for predictable delivery, scope cutting, and hill charts that show progress on vertical slices; no recurring criticism.
Recommended for predictable delivery, scope cutting, and hill charts that show progress on vertical slices; no recurring criticism.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Suits small teams and most companies
“Small senior teams do great with Shape Up.”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Confessions of a Software Developer: No More Self-Censorship” “I think those fit most companies.”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “Transparent leadership beats servant leadership”
Other management books people recommend
The four most recommended other management books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Unaccountability Machineby Dan Davies | 11 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Turn the Ship Around!by L. David Marquet and Stephen R. Covey | 10 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Shape Upby Ryan SingerThis page | 6 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Team Topologiesby Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais and Ruth Malan | 5 | 3 | 63% | 4 | — | — |
| Peoplewareby Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister | 5 | 2 | 71% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
All 6 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“very low fidelity - but describe ux flows.”
“Shape Up recommedns using Hill Charts for per-scope (vertical slice) progress updates.”
“the scope cutting part of it works extremely well”
“I think those fit most companies.”
“Small senior teams do great with Shape Up.”
“the result was more predictable delivery and happier, more-engaged developers”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.