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Straddle 101 - Internal

Issues

tl;dr

Adopting Linear's issues system for streamlined task management and improved workflow efficiency.

More on Issue Creation in Linear⁠

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Narrative

We're transitioning to Linear's issue system to foster clearer communication and more efficient task management. This change aims to enhance productivity and transparency in our workflow.

Understanding Linear Issues⁠

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Problem

The current task management process is non-existent. There has been no formal prioritization of work, no oversight on commits, and zero visibility to stakeholders.

Solution

Adopting Linear's issues system will transform our approach to task management, ensuring a more organized and transparent workflow. This system will enable us to clearly define, track, and manage individual tasks efficiently. This will require:

Detailed Issue Creation: Implement guidelines for writing clear, concise issues. This involves crafting issue titles that are straightforward and using descriptions to provide necessary context without overcomplication. The focus is on plain language and direct communication to ensure task clarity.

Utilizing Parent and Sub-Issues: Apply parent and sub-issue structures for complex tasks that require breakdown into smaller, manageable parts. This not only aids in organizing work but also ensures that each aspect of a larger task is clearly defined and tracked independently.

Parent and Sub-Issues in Linear⁠

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Issue Priority Setting: Implement a system for assigning and managing issue priorities in Linear, categorizing tasks based on urgency and importance to guide the team's focus.

Time Estimation for Issues: Establish practices for assigning realistic time estimates to each issue, aiding in effective workload assessment and sprint planning.

Custom Views and Filters: Configure custom views and filters in Linear to enhance task visibility and accessibility for each team member, ensuring effective personal and team workflow management.

Collaborative Issue Development: Encourage every team member to participate in issue creation, promoting deeper engagement with tasks and fostering a culture of collective responsibility and innovative problem-solving.

Visibility and Accessibility: Configure custom views and filters in Linear to enhance visibility and accessibility of tasks for each team member, ensuring that everyone can easily track and manage the issues most relevant to their work.

By implementing these steps, we aim to create a more efficient, transparent, and collaborative task management environment, harnessing the full potential of Linear's issues system for our project needs.

What’s an issue?

A unit of work or task that needs to be completed. It's the fundamental element used to track work progress, bugs, feature requests, or other types of tasks within a project. Each issue typically includes a title, a description, a status, and can be assigned other properties like priority, due date, or assignee. Issues help in organizing and prioritizing work, making it easier for teams to collaborate, track progress, and manage tasks effectively.

Policy

This document establishes a mandatory policy where every piece of work, including all code commits and pull requests, must be associated with a corresponding Linear issue or sub-issue. This policy is crucial for:

Ensuring Traceability: Creating a direct link between each code change and the specific task it addresses, providing clear traceability and accountability.

Facilitating Review Processes: Enabling reviewers and QA teams to efficiently assess code changes in the context of specific task requirements.

Accurate Progress Tracking: Allowing for a real-time, accurate view of project progress, as every code change is mapped to its respective task in the project management system.

Promoting Collaborative Development: Fostering a more collaborative development environment by clearly linking code contributions to project objectives.

This policy requires the integration of our development tools with Linear, ensuring that linking issues or sub-issues with code contributions is seamless and transparent. This integration is key to enhancing the organization and efficiency of our development and project management processes.

The establishment of this policy represents a significant step towards a more structured, accountable, and transparent workflow within our development practices.

Technical Specifications

Issue Writing Best Practices: Follow Linear's guidelines for writing concise, straightforward issue descriptions.

Linear's Issue Writing Best Practices⁠

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Streamlined Issue Creation: Utilize Linear's issue creation modal and shortcuts for efficiency.

Creating Issues in Linear⁠

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Draft Management: Use Linear's draft saving feature to manage issue creation drafts.

Linear's Draft Management⁠

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Parent and Sub-Issues Utilization: Employ parent and sub-issues for managing complex tasks.

Parent and Sub-Issues in Linear⁠

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Technical Specifications

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