Semgrep
Focus on actual work
Semgrep’s mission is to profoundly improve software security. In 2020, the team reignited development of the open source code scanning project sgrep, which evolved into Semgrep. Today, Semgrep is the leading application security solution used by companies like Figma, Dropbox, Slack, Snowflake, and many more.
Semgrep's team has used Linear for planning and building products since 2021 as they've scaled from an early-stage startup to an established product organization. When Semgrep sets out to tackle new projects or improve their existing product, they rely on Linear to execute their vision. Semgrep uses projects in Linear across their engineering, product, and design (EPD) teams to track their work, maintain alignment and drive momentum.
Linear Projects give us a source of truth across all our work and keeps the team in sync. For EPD, we use Linear Projects to track our active issues and our backlog. The project update feature has been a game-changer for us. Our project leads post weekly updates in Linear that sync bi-directionally to Slack, making it easy for everyone in the company to engage and follow along. With the six teams I manage, I no longer have to meet with project leads solely to get project updates – it’s saved me entire meetings. It’s also allowed our staff meetings to focus more on problem-solving and discussion rather than status updates.
The analytics provided by Linear Insights have helped Semgrep make data-driven decisions about resource allocation and process improvements. By closely monitoring metrics such as ticket priorities and SLA breaches, the team can quickly identify areas that need attention.
We use Linear Insights to answer critical questions about our development process. We frequently look at issues reported by our customers by priority to understand how many high-priority tickets we’re generating on average. We also monitor our SLA breaches closely. These reports help us make data-driven decisions about where to focus our efforts.
Semgrep manages feedback and bug reports efficiently using Linear Asks, which enables everyone at Semgrep to submit issues directly from Slack, and automatically routes them to the relevant team in Linear. This process has significantly reduced noise in communication channels and improved the team's ability to triage issues.
Our teams are in love with Linear Asks. It helps eliminate the sheer number of problems dropped in Slack channels, reducing the fake urgency bias that often comes with real-time messaging. The ability for our EPD teams to customize the workflow on the receiving end is particularly valuable, allowing each team to organize incoming requests in a way that best fits their process.
Linear has simplified issue tracking and project management for Semgrep, enabling everyone in the organization to participate in improving product quality and feature development.
What I appreciate most about Linear is its opinionated approach to project management. It eliminates the need for extensive customization and the busy work that often comes with other tools. When I ran a single engineering team using legacy software from a competitor, I spent 10 or 15 hours a week just trying to keep it up to date. I never had to do that with Linear because there was a clearly defined path for how to use it. This allows us to focus on actual work rather than maintaining the tool itself. I can prepare views in Linear for a new quarter's planning cycle in just 10 minutes.
In working with Linear, Semgrep has been able to improve cross-team visibility, make data-driven decisions, and reduce the time and toil spent on project management. This has allowed them to focus on building high-quality software and stay incredibly close to the needs of their customers.