Walden

Make things deliberately

Shape · Bet · Build — project management for the Shape Up method

Walden is the project management tool built for the Shape Up method — for deciding what's worth building, and finishing it. An idea earns its place through shaping. A bet makes it real. A fixed window forces the finish.

Start your first cycleSee pricing

Your first six weeks are free.

Shape

An idea has
to earn it.

Before anything gets built, it gets shaped. A pitch has a form: Problem, Appetite, Solution, Rabbit Holes, No-Gos — every question that could kill the project, answered before a line of code is written. Walden gives you the editor and holds the structure. Half-baked ideas don't reach the table.

Pitch editor interface in light mode

Mobile Inbox Redesign

Big Batch·6 weeks

Problem

Users can't triage their inbox on mobile. 68% of support requests are opened on phones but require switching to desktop to take action.

Assign

Solution

Wire push notifications to the existing mention event stream via APNs and FCM. A settings page lets users toggle mentions on/off and set quiet hours. Tapping the push deep-links into the thread. Payload includes sender name and the first 100 characters of the message. Default on for direct mentions, off for replies in unmuted threads.

Rabbit Holes

Device token lifecycle (registration, refresh, logout revocation) is where push projects die — use platform SDK defaults, don't build a custom retry layer. Deep-link routing on cold-start vs. background: one code path, not two.

No-Gos
  • · Email digest of missed mentions.
  • · Desktop browser push.
  • · SMS fallback.
  • · Per-channel notification rules.

Bet

A bet, not
a backlog.

Every six weeks, the people accountable for the product place a handful of real bets. A bet has stakes: a team, a fixed window, a hard deadline. What doesn't get a bet this cycle doesn't get built — no backlog quietly accumulating debt. Saying no is a decision, not a deferral.

Build

Finishing is
the feature.

Once the bet is placed, the team owns it. Six uninterrupted weeks — no check-ins, no status theater. Hill charts show where things actually stand: every scope sits where the team places it. Go ahead, drag yours.

When time's up, the circuit breaker trips. It ships, or it stops. Nothing lives at 90% done forever.

Tasks, sketches, conversations — all of it lives with the pitch, not scattered across tools.

Channels

Pitch-specific conversations with threads and reactions — right beside the work.

Tasks

Personal task lists linked to scopes. Track your own work without standups.

Documents

Rich text for specs and decisions — headings, tables, code blocks, images.

Sketches

A built-in canvas for fat marker sketches, flows, and breadboards.

Convictions

Built on convictions,
not compromises.

These aren't settings you toggle on. They're baked into every screen.

No backlogsFixed time, variable scopeCircuit breakersAssign projects, not tasksAppetite over estimatesBuilders own their workflow

Why “Walden”

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately.”

— Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Thoreau went to the pond to strip life down to what mattered. We think software deserves the same: fewer things, chosen on purpose, seen through to the end.

Walden grew out of Shape Up. If you run it, Walden fits like a glove. If you've never read it, you'll just find a saner way to ship.

Make things deliberately.

Shape what's worth building. Bet on it. Ship it.

Start your first cycleSee pricing

Your first six weeks are free.