This course is amied at product leaders who have heard about Shape Up, the innovative methodology created by Ryan Singer, and believe it can help them build better products, but aren’t quite sure how to apply it in their context.
To successfully apply Shape Up you don’t have to do it by the book. In fact most places apply it quite differently.
What works for most teams is learning specific techniques, and applying Shape Up as a set of tools they use with their current people and processes.
In this course you will learn how to build products your customers appreciate and use, identify time sinks and misunderstandings that result in scope creeping and longer timelines. You’ll get a thorough explanation of how Shape Up works and how to apply it for your unique context and needs.
This course will equip you with the necessary skills to succeed in your product development.
By the end of the course you will be able to
- ◎ Decide which problems to work on
- ◎ Define urgency/value
- ◎ Scope the problem
- ◎ Shape work in a way that aviods wasted effort, ambiguities, and "rabbit holes"
- ◎ Use tools to reduce risk
- ◎ Foster innovation and autonomy in your teams
- ◎ Avoid scope creep and ever extending timelines
- ◎ Ship work that matters
- ◎ Understand when strict Shape Up fits or needs adoption
- ◎ Apply these ideas in their own context
You can run this course in a private cohort. We can organise a course for 6-20 members of your team with additional onboarding and support. Reach out to Enrique at hello@ecomba.pro to discuss this further.
Course outline
- ◎ 8 one hour live sessions (two sessions per week)
- ◎ Start date
- ◎ Take home assignments between sessions (around an hour extra work per week)
- ◎ The course is held remotely in the comfort of your own home/office
Pre-course
Read the Shape Up book to get yourself familarized with the materials we are going to cover before the cohort starts.
- ◎ Read Shape Up (free online).
Week 1: Foundations of Shape Up
Monday 26th of January 2026 - 19:00-20:00 CET
Session 1: Shape Up core principles
- ◎ What is Shape Up and why it matters
- ◎ Fixed time, variable scope and setting appetites
- ◎ Moving from backlogs to bets
• shaping • betting • appetite • time management
Friday 30th of January 2026 - 19:00-20:00 CET
Session 2: The supply side
- ◎ Principles of shaping
- ◎ Identifying rabbit holes and risks early
- ◎ Who shapes?
• shaping • rabbit holes • risks • shapers
Week 2: Framing – Defining the problem
Monday 2nd of February 2026 - 19:00-20:00 CET
Session 3: The demand side
- ◎ Supply and demand
- ◎ Framing
- ◎ How Framing reduces wasted effort and focuses scope
• framing • problem definition • business alignment • focus
Friday 6th of February 2026 - 19:00-20:00 CET
Session 4: Framing in practice
- ◎ Running aframing session
- ◎ Narrowing problems/challenges
- ◎ Producing well framed problems
• framing • techniques • business value • urgency
Week 3: Shaping techniques & de-risking
Monday 9th of February 2026 - 19:00-20:00 CET
Session 5: Shaping tools & methods
- ◎ Breadboarding and fat marker sketches
- ◎ Moving at the right speed while shaping
• breadboarding • sketching • shaping • technical expertise
Friday 13th of February 🙀 2026 - 19:00-20:00 CET
Session 6: De-risking & writing the pitch
- ◎ Identifying and addresing risks and rabbit holes
- ◎ Writing the pitch
• rabbit holes • problem • appetite • solution • no-gos
Week 4: Adoption
Monday 16th of February 2026 - 19:00-20:00 CET
Session 7: Prioritization
- ◎ Making commitments
- ◎ Deciding what to work on
• bets • backlogs • questions • real-world
Friday 20th of February 2026 - 19:00-20:00 CET
Session 8: Bringing it all together
- ◎ Running a pilot project
- ◎ Breaking the "rules" when needed for designing your product process
- ◎ Using the language and tools in your current process
• adoption • process design • pilot • Q&A
Super Early Bird
Book before the 31st of December 2025
€650 / seat
Regular Price
Book anytime before start
€950 / seat
You can run this course in a private cohort
We can organise a course for 4-20 members of your team with additional onboarding and support. Reach out to Enrique at hello@ecomba.pro to discuss this further.