What is Get Shit Done?

Get Shit Done is a mental model used for better thinking and decision-making.

How do you apply Get Shit Done?

To apply Get Shit Done, identify situations where this framework is relevant, then use it as a lens to evaluate your options and decisions. The model is most useful when combined with other complementary mental models.

What category does Get Shit Done fall under?

Get Shit Done falls under the Business & Strategy category of mental models. Other models in this category can be found on the Business & Strategy hub page.

Why is Get Shit Done important?

Get Shit Done is important because it provides a structured way to think about problems that would otherwise be approached with intuition alone. Understanding this model helps you avoid common reasoning errors and make better decisions.

Get Shit Done Mental Model…

Get Shit Done Mental Model… | Faster Than Normal

Section 2

How to See It

Execution

You're seeing Get Shit Done when teams ship minimum viable versions and iterate from feedback instead of waiting for full spec or approval, and learning and results accelerate.

Culture

You're seeing Get Shit Done when “ship it” or “what did we ship this week?” is the norm, and long cycles or endless review are treated as problems to fix.

Section 3

How to Use It

Reduce the minimum unit of “done” so you can ship sooner. Default to “ship and learn” unless the cost of being wrong is unrecoverable. Reward output and iteration; treat prolonged analysis without a shipped experiment as a risk.

Decision filter

"What’s the smallest thing we can ship in the next 48 hours that moves the needle or teaches us something? If we can’t name it, we’re planning instead of doing."

As a founder

Set a rhythm: weekly or biweekly “what did we ship?” and prioritise the next smallest shippable step. Protect the team from scope creep and approval chains that block GSD; make “done” the default expectation.

Section 5

Founders & Leaders

Jeff BezosFounder, Amazon

Bezos institutionalised bias for action: “disagree and commit,” two-pizza teams, and the expectation that most decisions are reversible so speed wins. He framed delay as the main cost and valued shipped outcomes over perfect plans. Founders can apply this by making reversible decisions fast, defining “done” in small steps, and rewarding teams that ship and learn instead of waiting for certainty.

Section 7

Connected Models

Reinforces

Do Things That Don't Scale

Doing things that don’t scale is a form of GSD: manual, fast execution to learn and serve before building systems. Both favour action and learning over waiting for scale-ready solutions.

Tension

Reversible vs Irreversible Decisions

Reversible decisions should be GSD — fast. Irreversible ones need more care. The tension: default to GSD but explicitly flag the few decisions that are one-way doors and slow those down only.

Leads-to

Iteration Velocity

GSD increases iteration velocity: more ships, more cycles, more learning. Once GSD is the norm, measure and improve velocity so each cycle is faster and higher quality.

Section 8

One Key Quote

"Most decisions should probably be made with somewhere around 70% of the information you wish you had. If you wait for 90%, in most cases you're probably being slow."
— Jeff Bezos, 2016 Amazon Letter

Section 11

Summary & Further Reading

Get shit done means prioritising execution over perfection: ship, learn, and iterate. Shrink the unit of “done,” default to action on reversible decisions, and reward output and learning.

Amazon shareholder letters (1997–)

Primary source

Bezos on bias for action, reversible decisions, and day-one mentality.

The Lean Startup — Eric Ries (2011)

Book

Build–measure–learn; ship MVP and iterate from feedback.

Making Things Happen — Scott Berkun (2008)

Book

Project management and execution; shipping under uncertainty.

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