Initiative updates

Keep leaders and teams informed on the health and progress of Initiatives with dedicated updates.

Overview⁠

Initiative updates are concise reports on the health and progress of your initiatives. They can be viewed in Linear, sent directly to Slack channels, and configured to appear in your Linear Inbox. Similar to project updates, they consist of a health indicator that provides a high-level signal of the current state of the initiative, and a rich text description that offers more detailed insights on its progress, challenges, and next steps.

Initiative updates are designed to help leaders and teams stay aligned on high-level goals while still allowing for granular visibility into the projects that contribute to those initiatives.

Configure⁠

Initiative updates can be configured by admins in Workspace Settings. Once Initiatives are turned on, Admins can set up reminders to ensure Initiative owners post updates consistently. These settings allow you to choose how often reminders are sent, such as weekly or biweekly, and specify the day and time when reminders will appear. Reminders are only sent when there is an Initiative owner.

Admins can also configure a default Slack channel where all Initiative updates are sent. Creating a dedicated channel, such as #initiative-updates, helps ensure updates are visible and accessible to the entire team.

Basics⁠

Create Initiative updates⁠

Initiative updates can be created directly from the Initiative Overview page. The Initiative owner is responsible for posting the first update, after which any workspace member can write subsequent updates. To draft or edit an update, click the pencil icon in the top-right corner of the latest update.

When writing an update, you can highlight text to apply formatting. Additionally, you can upload files to provide supporting context or documentation. Select a health indicator—On track, At risk, or Off track—to represent the current state of the Initiative. If the Initiative owner has changed since the previous update, or there has been a change in target date or status, this will automatically be included in the update. Once you’re ready, post the update to share it with your team.

View Initiative updates⁠

The most recent Initiative update is shown on the Initiative overview page. You can then click See all to view previous Initiative updates or you can usethe ⌘/Ctrl + U keyboard shortcut. When viewing a list of Initiatives, you can also click on the Initiatives health status in the list to view the most recent Initiative updates.

Initiative updates appear in chronological order and anyone (not just team members) can react with emoji to express sentiment. You can also view Initiative updates from the connected Slack channel.

You can additionally copy a link to share with your team, or copy an Initiative update as markdown through the ⌘/Ctrl + K menu.

How we work: The Initiative owner, typically a Product Manager, adds initiative updates before each All Hands meeting and also sometimes on a bi-weekly basis. These updates are shared in Linear and set to appear in a specific Slack channel for easy visibility and discussion. We often discuss each update in a Slack thread linked to the original message, thanks to bi-directional commenting.
During All Hands meetings, the Initiative owners will review and present the initiative updates. Prior to these meetings, we can react to Initiative updates with emojis to highlight points of interest or raise questions before the meeting. This approach helps streamline discussions and ensures alignment across teams.

Manage notifications⁠

Initiative updates can be sent to Slack, delivered to your Linear Inbox, or both, based on your preferences. Notifications can be configured at both the workspace and individual Initiative levels to ensure your team stays informed in the way that works best for them.

For individual Initiatives, you can override the default Slack channel set in Workspace Settings by clicking the bell icon in the Initiative view. From here, you can select a custom Slack channel for updates, ensuring the right audience is kept in the loop. You can also enable Inbox notifications to receive updates directly in your Linear Inbox.

Initiative update comments⁠

It's possible to comment under Initiative updates to discuss them further. Workspace members who wrote the update and all members who participated in the resulting thread will be notified about new comments in their inbox.

If the main Slack integration is enabled for the workspace and these updates are posted in a Slack channel, bi-directional sync will be turned on so that all messages from the Slack thread, and vice versa, will be synced.

FAQ⁠