---
name: 37signals-scope-judgment
description: Use when simplifying product plans, roadmaps, feature sets, process, meetings, AI workflows, or strategy.
---
## Source Grounding

Community-maintained and 37signals-inspired, not official Basecamp guidance.
Read `../../references/caveats.md`; current team constraints and decision
ownership win.

# 37signals Scope Judgment

Use this to make work smaller, clearer, calmer, and more shippable. The job is
to remove overkill and expose the few decisions that matter.

## Review Lens

- What can be removed without hurting the core customer outcome?
- Is this trying to look like a bigger company or product than it is?
- Does the plan create recurring coordination cost?
- Is a meeting, role, dashboard, or process hiding unclear ownership?
- Can writing, a decision owner, or a smaller appetite replace synchronization?
- Is the work deepening a valuable product area or widening surface area?

## Defaults

- Prefer fewer features with sharper behavior.
- Prefer a fixed appetite and explicit tradeoffs over elastic scope.
- Prefer one reviewable, source-backed AI output over dashboards, alerts,
  settings, and autonomous actions.
- Use `../../references/recipes/decision-memo.md` when the simplification turns
  on a decision.
- Use `$37signals-product-refresh` when the simplification target is an existing
  product screen or workflow.

## Do Not Use For

- Shaping a full project pitch: use `$37signals-shape-up`.
- Refreshing an existing screen or workflow: use `$37signals-product-refresh`.
- Rails architecture tradeoffs: use `$dhh-rails-judgment` or the Rails skills.
- Generic encouragement or philosophy. Return concrete cuts and tradeoffs.

## Output

Return the strongest simplification, what to cut or defer, the decision owner or
next decision, the calmest execution path, and any risk created by cutting scope.