Concepts

Linear uses a small set of building blocks to organize people and work.

Teams own the work⁠

Your workspace contains the teams in your organization. Each team owns its own issues and workflow.

Use sub-teams when a larger team needs separate areas of ownership. Sub-teams can inherit settings from their parent team, which helps related teams work consistently.

How work is organized⁠

Work can be organized at three levels.

• Issues track individual pieces of work. An issue can be a bug, feature request, task, or any other item your team needs to manage
• Projects bring related issues together around a defined outcome. Use a project when work needs shared context, progress tracking, and coordination across people or teams
• Initiatives group projects around a broader company goal. Use an initiative to see how several projects contribute to a larger outcome

Not every issue needs to belong to a project, and not every project needs to belong to an initiative. Add structure when it helps people understand the work and its purpose.

Add detail when you need it⁠

Use sub-issues to break down an issue, milestones to break down a project, and sub-initiatives to break down a larger initiative.

Read the docs⁠

• Conceptual model. The full hierarchy, from workspace to sub-issue
• Teams. Creating teams, membership, and team settings
• Sub-teams. Nesting and inherited settings