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A team that wants more responsibility has to demonstrate that it can handle its current level of responsibility first. That sounds simple. It is not.
Many Product Teams know what great product work looks like. They have read the books. They have been to the conferences. They understand discovery, strategy, outcomes.
But on Monday morning they are still getting handed requirements. The Product Team is reduced to just delivering someone else’s solution.
Here is the uncomfortable truth:
Empowerment cannot be declared. Trust has to be earned. And earning it starts with delivery.
The article also features a conversation with Ryan Singer about “Shape Up” as a tool for product delivery. You’ll find the video embedded in the article.
Trust
The complaint I hear often from product teams: „Why doesn’t our organization simply let us work the way we want to work?“
I think that is the wrong question. It puts the team in a passive role. For me, it sounds like it’s the company’s fault that they are not just giving the teams what they want.
If you can’t reliably turn ideas/tickets/requirements/etc. into working products and get them into the hands of customers, you will not get a seat at the table. If you can’t handle your current level of responsibility, you will not unlock the next level.
Therefore I would recommend a question which emphasis ownership of the team instead. The right question, in my opinion, is: What are we doing to earn the trust so that our organization is open to extending our level of responsibility?
By becoming excellent at delivery, you build credibility. Credibility creates trust. Trust creates influence. Influence creates a seat at the table. That seat is where discovery, strategy, and responsibility for outcomes become possible.
Leadership begins to see your team differently. You are no longer simply an execution function waiting for requirements. You become a partner that can be trusted with increasingly important decisions.
Delivery is not the goal. It is the starting point.
Craft & Tools
So if delivery is where most teams start, how do you become really good at it?
Building great products is a craft. And craft requires the right tools. Every tool shapes the craftsperson. If you work exclusively with Scrum, you start thinking in sprints, backlogs, story points, refinements.
These are not neutral structures. They shape how you perceive problems, make decisions, and distribute responsibility. Scrum is a powerful tool for product delivery.
But a craftsperson who only knows a hammer sees a nail in every problem. The best Product Teams are not dogmatic. They master their craft and choose the tool that fits the task. That means that you should know multiple tools in order to choose and mix what is best for your context.
Shape Up is a different kind of tool. It offers a fundamentally different way of organizing delivery work. One that many teams have never been exposed to. That is why Shape Up is worth adding to your toolkit.
That does not mean that just applying Shape Up will get you the seat at the table. What I mean here is that you have to improve your craft, you have to extend your toolkit in order to become better at what you do. If Shape Up can improve your product delivery game – use it!
Shape Up
I had the opportunity to talk with Ryan Singer, author of Shape Up, who spent almost 20 years at 37signals/Basecamp.
Shape Up is not a consulting framework. It is formalized learning from practice. Ryan is a practitioner.
Three Shape Up elements I also discussed with Ryan during our conversation:
Appetite instead of estimates
Not: „How long will this take?“
But: „How much are we willing to invest?“
Appetite is a strategy question. When a Product Team starts asking appetite questions, something fundamental changes in how the organization sees them. They are no longer an execution function waiting for requirements. They can become a partner thinking about business value.
Shaping before kickoff
The problem is shaped upfront, concrete enough to provide direction, open enough to allow for real solutions. That can be a strong signal to the organization: This team wants to understand the problem first in order to judge how an appropriate solution needs to look.
A real timeframe with real consequences
Six weeks. No automatic extensions. Uncomfortable. And healthy. It forces real prioritization. After six weeks, you can hopefully build something that solves a real customer/business problem for your organization.
Shape Up offers more than the three elements above, of course. The Betting Table, for example, is a very interesting way of deciding what gets built and what doesn’t.
I recommend exploring the full framework yourself, watch the video and deciding what makes sense in your context.
Shape Up is one tool. Scrum is another. Both serve, in the context of this article, the same goal: Building the credibility that earns your team a seat at the table.
Change is possible
I am asked regularly what companies I recommend working for where it is possible to do „real“ product work.
I understand where the question is coming from and the frustration behind it. I have two challenges with this question, though. First, it is really difficult to name a company where modern product management by the book is just handed to you.
Second, this is, in my opinion, again a questions which puts you in a passive role. Yes, the problem is structural. Most organizations were designed for a fundamentally different way of working. That is not only unfortunate.
Modern product management is one of the most underdeveloped and overlooked sources of competitive advantage.
You can now either accept it or start doing something against that yourself. I would love to see more ownership here.
So let me ask you: How high do you think your capability is to change your work environment towards modern product management?
I think your capability is massive.
Change is possible.
The starting point is not a huge transformation program. The change starts with you and your product team and what you are already trusted to do.
Expand your toolkit. Master your craft. Get excellent at delivery. Build the trust. The rest follows.
