Before each six-week cycle, we hold a betting table where founders decide what to do in the next cycle. At the betting table, they look at pitches from the last four weeks — or any pitches that somebody purposefully revived and lobbied for again.

<aside> 👉 Check the ongoing shaped work in Shaping cycles - template, pitches will be linked inside.

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Overview


The betting table is a meeting held after the last shaping week where stakeholders decide what to do in the next cycle. The potential bets to consider are either new pitches shaped during the last four weeks or possibly one or two older pitches that someone specifically chose to revive. There’s no “grooming” or backlog to organize. Just a few good options to consider.

Betting table meeting takes place every 8-weeks after the 4-week shaping cycle.

<aside> ☝ Be sure to be familiar with Shape Up lifecycle - template

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How we do it


<aside> ❗ Be sure to read all the pitches before the meeting in Shaping cycles - template

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  1. Once the meeting starts, it’s all about looking at the pitches that made it to the table and making decisions. All the finished pitches will be found under the ongoing cycle mentioned above.

  2. Each shaper who finished and posted his pitch will be called out to pitch his idea to the founders and to answer their questions (if there're any).

    Pitch structure:

  3. After all shapers pitched their ideas we should select the potential candidates and discuss them more thoroughly.

    <aside> ☝ If something isn't clear you can always call out the shaper for a quick explanation

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  4. The output of the meeting is an announcement of the dev cycle. Between everyone present, there’s knowledge of who’s available, what the business priorities are, and what kind of work we’ve been doing lately. All of this feeds into the decision-making process about what to do and who to schedule.

  5. After the bets are made, one of the attendees will write an announcement in Development cycles - template and post it in the #general channel on slack. That tells everyone which projects we're betting on for the next dev cycle and who will be working on them.

    <aside> ☝ The reasoning why the rest of the ideas weren't picked should be available to shapers inside the Betting table's meeting notes.

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  6. After this, the Designer will have ~2 weeks time to deliver designs for each picked pitch before the start of the Cool-down - template as it shows in the Shape Up lifecycle - template

<aside> 🔥 Each picked pitch into the dev cycle must have assigned a responsible team

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