Shape Up for client work / Chapter 7 of 8
Hill charts as the status report
A status report that lists percentages tells a client very little. A hill chart tells them whether the team is still figuring things out or just executing.
The hill chart comes from Basecamp and is described in Shape Up. Of all the parts of the method, it is the easiest to show a client. It replaces a percentage with a picture of whether the team understands the problem yet.
A task list reports what has been ticked off. A hill chart reports where each piece of work is on a different question: is the unknown resolved, or is it now a matter of doing the work?
How to read one
The hill has two slopes. Work on the uphill side is still being figured out: the team is exploring, testing assumptions and finding what the real problem is. Work at the top has been understood. Work on the downhill side is execution, where the remaining effort is predictable.
Each dot is a scope, a piece of the project that can be finished independently. The book’s chapters on mapping the scopes and showing progress explain how a team decides what the dots are.
- 1Sign-up and onboarding: figured out and being built
- 2Reporting screen: still working out what to show
- 3Client data import: done, on the downhill side
- 4Billing integration: a rabbit hole, no movement for a week
Why it works as a client report
A client reading “eighty percent complete” has no way to judge the claim, and most have heard it before on a project that ran over. A dot stuck on the uphill slope says something different: this piece has an unknown, and we are still on it. That is honest and it is specific.
It also changes what you ask of them. A scope stuck uphill is often waiting for a decision, a piece of data or access to something the client controls. Showing it on the chart makes the dependency visible without an argument.
A weekly report in five lines
- The current hill chart, as an image or a link.
- Which dots moved since last week.
- Which dots did not move, and why.
- Anything you need from the client, with a date.
- The cycle’s end date, repeated.
Two or three sentences of context is enough. Clients read short reports. They skim long ones.
What to do when a dot stops moving
A dot that sits in the same place for a week is the most useful signal on the chart. Look for a rabbit hole, a missing decision or a scope that is too big. Talk about it in the report instead of waiting for it to move.
If a scope will not make it over the hill in time, the book’s answer is to cut scope and keep the time. Tell the client early which part you plan to cut and why, with the pitch’s no-gos and nice-to-haves as the guide.
Tools
Basecamp has hill charts built in. If you use something else, several apps and plugins draw them for Jira, Linear and Notion, and a free browser builder exists. The resources page lists them. A hand-drawn chart photographed weekly is a fine start.
Be honest about the limits
A hill chart reports confidence, which is the team’s judgment. It does not give a date. Clients who need a date want a calendar, and that is the subject of the next chapter.
Questions people ask
What is a hill chart?
A hill chart plots each piece of work on a hill. The uphill side is figuring out what to do and the downhill side is doing it. Basecamp introduced it in Shape Up and in its product. Credit for the idea belongs to them.
Can you send a hill chart instead of a weekly status email?
Yes. Send the chart with two sentences on what moved and what is stuck. The stuck dots are easy to spot, which a task list rarely makes so plain.