Designing for the Developers

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

Part of this, I believe, is about bringing back an opinionated approach to software design, where the tool asserts itself. For instance, Linear’s sleek, luminous feel and decisive approach to how work should be done shows how an unwavering commitment to a specific measure of pixel-perfect quality can be incredibly compelling. Similarly, a product l... See more

Nan:  Yeah. I don't want you spending your entire day in Linear, right? Like that would be like a kind of failure mode for us if somebody just spent their entire life managing issues here and there.

So I think the utopian vision is that a lot of people who use Linear don't even know they're doing it. There's a big piece of what we're trying to

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Today, we are revealing the result of many weeks of work redesigning Linear’s interface. We’ve adjusted the sidebar, tabs, headers, and panels to reduce visual noise, maintain visual alignment, and increase the hierarchy and density of navigation elements. These changes make space for Linear to evolve from a simple issue tracker into a purpose-buil... See more

It’s not just the software itself that lacks personality; has every tech company hired the same illustrator?

“The majority of companies don’t work in the way we do, which leads to fewer people with these kinds of skills. A conventional interview process, often modeled by large companies, doesn’t account for this. It’s challenging to assess in interviews if someone is truly a builder, has good taste and judgment, can take initiative, and approaches problem... See more