Ryan Singer
- Product Leader, Concept to Build
- Creator of Shape Up
- 20+ Years in Design, Code, Execution
- Former Head of Strategy at 37signals
What I Do
- Drive Product End-To-End — I lead product efforts hands-on from concept through execution. I work with partners who have a clear-eyed view of their strategy and opportunities but struggle with the idea-to-execution gap. My strength is simplifying problems into clear product concepts and working with engineers to make them real.
- Shaping Sessions — For teams trying to improve their Shape Up-inspired workflow, the fastest way to learn is to dive into the shaping phase of a real project together. A three-hour Shaping Session exposes your team to what "good" looks like while making a jump in clarity on a specific project.
- Founder/C-level Advice — Need some guidance or perspective? Drop me a note with some background and we can set up a call to talk through what's going on and I'll suggest ways to make progress.
Shape Up
Shape Up is a way of working that creates clarity and autonomy with fewer meetings and rituals. It's an alternative to scrum for growing startups who need structure but don't want to slow down. I wrote the book in 2019 to formalize how we did product development during my time at 37signals.
Shaping in Real Life
The book Shape Up was based on how Basecamp worked — with super senior product-minded engineers, designers who code, and just two stakeholders. The reality at most companies is different. Shaping in Real Life collects my experiences helping a wide variety of teams adopt a Shape Up style of working.
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© 2025 Ryan Singer