Shape-Up Super Short for Large Organizations: For many teams working on strongly or loosely interrelated topics

Step	Purpose / Intended Outcome	Step Activities	Facilitator Notes	Timebox
1. Welcome & Topology Framing	Acknowledge team types and interaction modes. Set intent: cross-team learning, system visibility, and identifying improvement levers.	Welcome group. State intent: understand how our shaped bets interacted across team boundaries—whether collaborative, dependent, or isolated. Briefly name represented team types: Stream-aligned Enabling Complicated-subsystem Platform	Show a diagram or quick map of team types if helpful. Clarify that insights will differ by interaction mode. Avoid framing it as performance or delivery assessment.	5 min
2. Team Breakouts: Internal Reflection + Boundary Mapping	Allow teams to reflect on their own bets and interaction surfaces with other teams.	Teams reflect independently: 2–3 notes each for Built, Shipped, Learned 1–2 Hot Takes Mark which outcomes involved other teams. Optional: color-code notes based on dependency (internal, platform, etc.).	Encourage each team to surface points where their flow relied on another team or was blocked by unclear shaping or interface assumptions. Use a template if time-constrained.	10 min
3. Cross-Team Gallery Walk	Make inter-team assumptions, dependencies, and disconnects visible.	Each team posts outputs to shared wall/board (physically or digitally). All participants rotate/view the outputs of other teams: Look for mentions of your team Add clarifying sticky notes or questions	Keep silent during this phase. Prompt teams to notice unexpected dependencies, assumptions, or inconsistencies in terminology or timing.	10 min
4. Synthesis: Interaction Pain Points & Emergent Patterns	Identify where the organization as a whole struggled with coordination, unclear shaping, or overloaded teams.	Facilitator synthesizes common patterns: Where did interaction modes break down? Which teams were overloaded with requests? Were interface contracts (APIs, data expectations, etc.) mismatched? Ask guiding questions: “Which bets assumed invisible help?” “Where was work unknowingly coupled?”	Use Team Topologies terms to frame dysfunctions: was this a failed collaboration, or an overloaded platform-as-a-service situation? Avoid overgeneralization—distinguish real systemic issues from isolated cases.	10 min
5. Prioritized Action Areas	Generate 1–2 clear improvement themes at the organizational interaction level.	Open floor: “If we could make one systemic change, what would it be?” Cluster suggestions into themes (e.g., clearer shaping contracts, staggered bet kickoff, shared interface review). Vote on top theme. Define 1 concrete next step or experiment (pilot, shared doc, new sync point).	Push for realistic, testable adjustments, not abstract culture shifts. If feasible, identify one person from each topology type to co-own follow-up.	7 min
6. Close & Optional Team Reflection	Align on what was learned and what comes next. Encourage team-level reflection continuation.	Recap: Cross-team takeaways Top improvement area Next step & owner(s) Optionally invite teams to run a shorter follow-up retro internally.	Share takeaways in writing for transparency. Follow up in a few cycles to revisit improvement progress.	3 min

🔥 What are Shape Up Hot Takes in this context?

Definition: Bold, fast insights that challenge shaping assumptions, bet boundaries, or team interaction expectations.

Examples:

• “This stream-aligned team got pulled into shaping for everyone else.”
• “We assumed platform availability that didn’t exist.”
• “Our bet required collaboration, but we shaped in isolation.”
• “This shaping process forgot to include the complicated-subsystem team.”