Appetite is a declaration of how much attention a plan is worth. It replaces estimation. An estimate asks “how long will this take?” — a question the system cannot answer reliably. An appetite asks “how much attention is this worth?” — a question the system can answer by evaluating the closure pressure the plan addresses.
The concept comes from Ryan Singer’s Shape Up (Basecamp, 2019).
Appetite values in this repository:
- small: 1 session
- medium: 2-3 sessions
- large: 4-6 sessions
Work that exceeds its appetite triggers the circuit breaker: stop, reassess whether the approach is right, reshape or abandon.
Appetite is declared in plan frontmatter as appetite: small | medium | large.