Linear is a small startup with a big impact: 10,000+ companies use their project and issue-tracking system, including 66% of Forbes Top 50 AI companies. Founded in 2019, the company raised $52M in funding and is profitable, and full-remote. How did they pull this off with just 25 engineers?
On today’s episode of The Pragmatic Engineer, I’m joined by fellow Uber alum, Sabin Roman, now the first Engineering Manager at Linear. Linear, known for its powerful project and issue-tracking system, streamlines workflows throughout the product development process.
In our conversation today, Sabin and I compare building projects at Linear versus our experiences at Uber. He shares insights into Linear’s unique approaches, including:
• No email. How Linear handles internal communications
• Quality. The “goalie” program to address customer concerns and Linear’s zero bug policy
• Full remote. How Linear keeps teams connected despite working entirely remotely
• Getting stuff done. An in-depth, step-by-step walkthrough of a project at Linear
• Creativity + QA. Linear’s focus on quality and creativity over fash shipping
• Career ladders. Titles at Linear, Sabin’s learnings from Uber
• ... and much more!
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The Pragmatic Engineer deepdives relevant for this episode:
• Inside Linear's Engineering Culture https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/linear
• An update on Linear, after their $35M fundraise https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/i/137900225/an-update-on-linear
• Software engineers leading projects https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/engineers-leading-projects
• Netflix’s historic introduction of levels for software engineers https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/netflix-levels
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Where to find Sabin Roman:
• X: https://x.com/sabin_roman
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabinroman/
Where to find Gergely:
• Newsletter: https://www.pragmaticengineer.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gergelyorosz/
• X: https://x.com/GergelyOrosz
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Intro
(01:41) Sabin’s background
(02:45) Why Linear rarely uses e-mail internally
(07:32) An overview of Linear's company profile
(08:03) Linear’s tech stack
(08:20) How Linear operated without product people
(09:40) How Linear stays close to customers
(11:27) The shortcomings of Support Engineers at Uber and why Linear’s “goalies” work better
(16:35) Focusing on bugs vs. new features
(18:55) Linear’s hiring process
(21:57) An overview of a typical call with a hiring manager at Linear
(24:13) The pros and cons of Linear’s remote work culture
(29:30) The challenge of managing teams remotely
(31:44) A step-by-step walkthrough of how Sabin built a project at Linear
(45:47) Why Linear’s unique working process works
(49:57) The Helix project at Uber and differences in operations working at a large company
(57:47) How senior engineers operate at Linear vs. at a large company
(1:01:30) Why Linear has no levels for engineers
(1:07:13) Less experienced engineers at Linear
(1:08:56) Sabin’s big learnings from Uber
(1:09:47) Rapid fire round
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See the transcript and other references from the episode at https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/linear-move-fast-with-little-process
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