Using Miro for Shape Up
Best-in-class infinite canvas experience — the gold standard for collaborative whiteboarding with real-time multiplayer editing. When combined with Shape Up, this makes Miro a strong candidate for teams who want a structured, repeatable workflow without sacrificing flexibility. Shape Up works best in Miro when you leverage its roadmapping to implement the framework's key practices directly in the tool your team already lives in.
Shape Up (Basecamp's methodology) works in 6-week cycles with fully shaped pitches — no backlogs, no sprints, no estimates. Teams get the full cycle to solve a problem however they see fit.
How to set up Shape Up in Miro
Set up your shaping workspace
Create a dedicated "Shaping" space in Miro separate from delivery. Use status labels: Raw Idea, Being Shaped, Ready for Betting, Accepted. Only PMs and shapers have write access to this space during the shaping phase.
Create pitch documents within the tool
Create a naming convention for pitch cards in Miro: "[Pitch] <Name> — Appetite: 6w/2w/1w". Include the pitch content in the card description or linked document. Keep all pitches in one list for the betting table.
Configure 6-week cycle projects
For each cycle, create a project in Miro with a hard end date 6 weeks away. Use a Kanban board with columns: To Do, In Progress, Needs Review, Done — Shape Up teams self-organise tasks, so keep the board flexible. No backlog, no sprint planning — only the pitch scope.
Manage the hill chart (progress) and cooldown
Update a sticky note or shared doc weekly with hill chart status. At the end of 6 weeks, archive the cycle project. Create a cooldown project for the 2-week break and let teams self-organise what goes there.
Which Miro features matter for Shape Up
Miro has 1 of 2 core Shape Up features natively.