Hill Chart
A Hill Chart is a status picture in which each piece of work is a dot on a hill: the uphill side stands for figuring things out, the downhill side for executing what is now understood. It comes from Shape Up, Ryan Singer's description of how 37signals builds Basecamp. In a regular check-in the team moves the dots and compares the picture with the last one, which shows where work is stuck more reliably than counting finished tasks.
Facilitation script
- 1
Put up the current chart next to the last snapshot. Remind the group that left of the top means still figuring out, right of the top means getting it done.
2 min - 2
Each person or pair moves the dots for the scopes they work on and says in one sentence what moved them.
5 min - 3
Look at the dots that did not move since the last check-in. For each, ask what is still unknown and whether help or a decision is needed.
5 min - 4
Decide for each stuck dot whether to split the scope, pair someone onto it or change the approach. Add any new scopes to the hill.
4 min - 5
Check the order: confirm which uphill scope gets attention first until the next check-in, then save a snapshot.
2 min
Tips
Talk about the work, not the person: 'what is still unknown in this scope?' gets a better answer than 'why are you stuck?'.
Be strict about what counts as the top of the hill.
In Shape Up terms a scope is over the top once the unknowns have been worked through in practice, not once someone has thought it through.
Keep the snapshots, because a single chart says little and the movement between two charts is the information.
Common pitfalls
A manager moving the dots on the team's behalf, which turns the chart into a report of what the manager hopes rather than what the people doing the work know
Placing a dot at the top because the solution has been thought through but not tried, so it slides back uphill later and the chart loses credibility
Scopes that are too large, where one dot hides both solved and unsolved parts and sits in the middle for weeks
Starting with the easy scopes to show early movement, which leaves the riskiest unknowns for the end of the cycle when there is no time left to absorb a surprise
Keeping only the latest chart, so nobody can see that a dot has been in the same place for three check-ins
Variations
On a physical board, redraw or photograph the chart at each check-in. Remote teams can use a shared whiteboard with one curve and movable dots, or a project tool with a built-in hill chart. For a larger programme, give each team its own hill and review only the stuck dots together. Teams not using Shape Up cycles can use the chart in a weekly sync in place of a percent-complete report.
Where it fits
When to use it
Status reports say a project is 80 percent done for weeks in a row and nobody can say what the remaining 20 percent contains
Work has real unknowns, such as a new integration or an untested design, and task lists keep growing as people discover more
Team members are reluctant to say they are stuck, and you want a way for that to show without anyone having to announce it
Stakeholders want a progress view and you want to avoid a line-by-line task review
The team has a fixed deadline and needs to decide which unknowns to resolve first
When not to use it
The work is routine and well understood, so everything sits on the downhill side from day one; a simple task board or Kanban view shows more
The project has not yet been broken into meaningful slices; map the scope first, for example with Story Mapping, before placing dots
You need effort or date estimates; the chart shows certainty, not size, so use T-Shirt Sizing or Planning Poker for that
Dot positions will be used to judge individuals; people will then place dots where it is safe and the chart stops telling the truth
Related methods
Frequently asked questions
What is Hill Chart?▾
A Hill Chart shows each piece of a project as a dot on a hill-shaped curve. The uphill half represents working out unknowns, the downhill half represents executing with certainty. It was described by Ryan Singer in Shape Up, the book about how 37signals develops Basecamp.
What do the two sides of the hill mean?▾
On the way up, the team is still figuring out what to do and how; there are open questions and the work could still surprise them. At the top, the approach is clear. On the way down, what remains is known work that only has to be done.
How is a Hill Chart different from a burndown chart or a task count?▾
Burndown charts and task counts measure how much listed work is finished. They cannot show unknown work that has not been listed yet, which is where most delays come from. A Hill Chart tracks how certain the team is about each scope, so a scope with few tasks but a large open question shows up as a risk.
How often should a team update its Hill Chart?▾
Update it whenever the picture has changed and review it at a regular check-in, typically once or twice a week. The review itself takes 10 to 20 minutes. Keep each version so that the team can compare positions over time.
What should the team do when a dot stops moving?▾
Treat it as a signal to ask about the work, not as a failure by the person. Ask what is still unknown, whether the scope contains several separate problems, and whether it should be split into smaller scopes that can move independently. Often the answer is a decision or a piece of help that someone outside the scope can provide.
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Try it freeMethod descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices. This method was inspired by work from Ryan Singer / 37signals (Shape Up).