Appetite
Winkletter • 10 Nov 2024 •
How do you define your work? At Basecamp they have an approach to defining work called shaping. I stumbled across this idea while researching architecture, of all things. And one aspect of their system is defining appetite.
Usually people start with the outcome: this is going to be a post-apocalyptic novel series about kids at a summer camp. And then they outline the story and make an estimate of how long that work will take. Next thing they know, the project takes over their life and they burn out.
Appetite defines work by first asking how much time am I willing to spend on this project? That time budget then sets the scope. The mantra is, “Fixed time, variable scope.” Only willing to spend two weeks? Well, this is going to have to be a short story. Six weeks? It’s a novella. The rest of eternity? Okay, George R. R. Martin, get back to writing.
- Applying Shape-Up in the Real World: Ryan Singer at Rails World 2023
- Shape-Up PDF: 176-page book on the shaping methodology.
- Audio Overview: NotebookLM summary of the Shape-Up book.
Comments
First of all: How did I miss this post!?
Second of all: I’m aware of Shaping Up, but I don’t recall the idea of “appetite”. This is great, though, because it aligns well with an idea I’m fleshing out about planning our days to make them delicious. Many task lists are too mundane and disconnected from our SENSE of ambition. We don’t feel how they relate to what we want to achieve and what we enjoy.
I want to think of task lists as being a menu of experiences we want to have, or can at least find a way to enjoy. 😄
@haideralmosawi I don’t know if this relates exactly, but you might like my post on projects as meal planning where I made an app for a weekly “meal plan.” One of the many things I started and never finished.
Love this! So often people do the worst - variable scope, variable time.