How to pilot Linear

Introduction⁠

Once you’ve built internal awareness about Linear, it’s time to get a few teams working in it. Linear pilots involve one or two teams and last four to six weeks. Participating in a pilot is an opportunity for teams to see how Linear can streamline execution.

Below, we share how to select the right teams to use Linear, gather the evidence you need, and present a data-backed case for Linear’s speed, power, and ease of use.

Most teams define “pilot success” as users identifying Linear as a tool they enjoy using that speeds up their workflow and keeps them on task.

The pilot process⁠

Make a list of Engineering, Product, and Design (EPD) teams eager to try something new and that have influence in the larger organization. Review the groups on your list and identify the ones that spend a lot of their time in issue and project tracking tools. They’ll be the most likely to be sensitive to friction in their existing processes and enthusiastic to pilot a tool that eliminates some of their biggest pain points.

Once you have at least two ideal teams in mind, approach them with a potential pilot timeline and plan for importing issues or syncing them with your existing tool. Make modifications based on their input.

The purpose of this survey is to gather end user impressions of your current issue tracking solution and gauge how well (or not) it is working for your teams. Group your questions around several common themes – especially known obstacles with your current tooling.

Below are three sample topics. Adapt them to your organization’s goals, language, and culture. For more inspiration, consider searching your Slack instance for the keyword “Linear.” Often, people express their interest in trying it, along with the challenges they face in their current workflow.

Adoption and engagement

The more friction in your issue tracking tool, the lower the engagement rate. The lower the engagement rate, the less accurate your issue tracking data is. To get a sense of whether or not this is a problem for your organization, ask:

Core issue workflows

A cluttered UI, feature bloat, and complicated workflows slow teams down. Highlight where your current issue tracker creates inefficiencies with questions like:

Projects and roadmaps

It’s hard to stay motivated without clear direction or results. Questions like these show what your issue tracker lacks in planning, project management, and reporting.

Some teams start fresh with their pilot, kicking off a shorter-term project directly in Linear. Others want to import the issues they’re working on and finish out a cycle within Linear. Contact Linear’s Customer Team to walk through options for importing or syncing issues from your current issue tracker.

Note that mappings you create during an import or sync lay the foundation for a full migration post-pilot and accelerate the onboarding process.

We're happy to provide the support your organization needs, such as a short demo from the Linear Customer Team and links to Linear docs and best practices.

Reformat the survey questions you created in step 2 to focus on the Linear experience. Leave open text fields next to each question to collect extra commentary users may have. Request feedback by a specific date, at least a week before meeting with leadership, so you have time to compile it.

Most individual users tend to love Linear. But leaders rarely have time to sift through a long list of anecdotes. To build a clear and concise case for Linear, pull out the 4 - 5 most telling quantitative pieces of evidence and put them side-by-side with your baseline. Add an impactful quote to underscore the value of each metric.

For example, here’s a high-level summary a large financial technology company shared with their leadership team:

We found a 71.8% increase in end user satisfaction with Linear.

High satisfaction leads to higher frequency usage, making Linear a more trustworthy source of truth for the current status of work.

Make the switch⁠

A full migration to Linear is the next step. Learn how to make a smooth transition in our Migration Guide.