"Building Product at Linear" with Nan Yu, Head of Product at Linear (1/2)

“The fundamental thing that Linear did differently was this idea of being highly opinionated,” she says. “They understood that, the truth is, most companies have no idea what the right software development process is,” Zhan says. “The subset who do would much prefer focusing on building their product than dedicating time to shaping this process—cu

... See more

⁠

⁠

At past companies, the team saw how steep learning curves and jargon kept people from adopting certain productivity apps. Rather than coming up with new terms, the Linear team landed on straightforward units of work—like projects and teams—that are universal and easy to understand. One of the team’s firm opinions is that you shouldn’t need a hand... See more

We've been thinking a lot about this in the context of @linear. Linear is often described as "opinionated", but "purpose-built" is a much better way to describe it (h/t @karrisaarinen) Most issue trackers out there are general-purpose tools. They are endlessly flexible to support any use case. They treat task management as the end goal. Linear i... See more

Today hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people might develop a piece of software. This has led to two things, Saarinen says: a focus on process over product, and removing engineers from positions of influence. “I think people get too focused on the different frameworks and processes,” he says, “and you start to forget, what are you actually doing?

... See more

⁠

But what happens when the default approach conflicts with customer feedback? The Linear team believes there’s an art and a science to it. The team is generally more opinionated at the atomic level—deciding to add labels and due dates as issue properties, for example. As they move up the stack to broader concepts like projects, they take more cues ... See more

⁠

⁠

At past companies, the team saw how steep learning curves and jargon kept people from adopting certain productivity apps. Rather than coming up with new terms, the Linear team landed on straightforward units of work—like projects and teams—that are universal and easy to understand. One of the team’s firm opinions is that you shouldn’t need a hand... See more

Linear’s founders want to do more than support better software creation. They want to bring back a sense of dignity to software creation, a job that today, Saarinen observes, can feel disconnected from a larger purpose. They want software engineers to feel satisfaction with and control over their work, something overreliance on project managers ha

... See more