How long until my team stops complaining about the switch?

Takes a few weeks before people stop bitching about missing Jira (yes, people actually say that). Takes a couple months before they're using keyboard shortcuts and actually working faster. The engineers adapted in a week. Our PM took a month and is still grumpy about missing features. The marketing team gave up after two weeks and went back to Notion.

Will this piss off my non-developer teammates?

Oh absolutely. Linear is unapologetically built for engineers. Your marketing team will hate the lack of pretty kanban boards. Your sales team will be confused by GitHub integration everywhere. Your executives will ask "where's the Gantt chart?" and you'll have to explain why Linear thinks those are stupid.We ended up keeping Notion for the marketing team and Linear for engineering. It's not ideal, but it's reality.

Is it actually faster or just feels faster because it's new?

Linear is way faster than Jira. I don't have exact numbers because I'm not sitting there with a stopwatch, but Jira made me want to throw my laptop out the window waiting for pages to load. Linear just loads.I probably waste less time clicking around, but honestly it's hard to separate "this is faster" from "thank god I'm not using Jira anymore."

What about all that enterprise security bullshit my IT team cares about?

Linear's security is "startup friendly" which is corporate speak for "good enough if you're not a bank." There's no SAML group sync, no advanced audit logging, no SOC2 compliance dashboard that enterprises want.Our InfoSec team asked a bunch of annoying questions and eventually gave up after a few weeks of back-and-forth. They weren't happy but they stopped complaining. If you work somewhere that actually cares about compliance, Linear might not cut it.

How much does this actually cost when you factor in migration?

Migration from Jira was expensive as hell. I don't remember exactly how much time it took but it was way more than we budgeted. You'll lose custom fields and spend time fixing shit that should have just imported correctly.The $8/month per user sounds cheap until you realize the free plan's 250 issue limit includes closed tickets. We hit the limit in 6 weeks and had to upgrade our 15-person team to $120/month.

Why do teams switch back?

Most common reasons I've seen: 1. InfoSec said no after 3 months of evaluation 2. PM couldn't live without advanced reporting features 3. Sales team needed better CRM integration than Linear offers 4. Executive mandate to "standardize on Microsoft tools" Some teams I know switched back, couldn't tell you exactly how many. Usually it's because the PM or executives couldn't deal with missing features they were used to.

Does it actually stay up when you need it?

Linear has good uptime (better than Jira), but their status page communication is garbage. The app will be slow or broken and you won't know if it's your internet, their servers, or some third-party integration failing.The offline mode works for viewing tickets, but you can't create new issues until you're back online. This bit us during a critical production incident when our internet was flaky.

What about for remote teams?

Actually great for remote work. The keyboard shortcuts mean less mouse clicking, real-time sync works reliably across time zones, and the mobile web app is usable (the native apps are trash, but the web version works).I've never had sync conflicts or lost updates, which is more than I can say for Jira or most other tools.

Will integrations be a nightmare?

GitHub integration is perfect. Slack integration works 90% of the time (breaks randomly every few weeks). Everything else is hit-or-miss.If you need to connect to Salesforce, ServiceNow, or any legacy enterprise system, you're looking at custom API work. Budget time for that.

Should my team of [X] people use Linear?

**2-15 people**: Yes, Linear is perfect for small engineering teams. **15-50 people**: Probably yes, unless you have complex cross-team requirements. **50+ people**: Maybe for engineering, definitely not for the whole company. You'll end up with multiple tools and that's fine.

Is it worth switching from Jira?

If you're an engineering team and Jira makes you want to scream: yes, switch. If you're heavily invested in Jira customizations, complex workflows, or enterprise reporting: probably not. If your PM runs the team instead of the engineers: definitely not. The switch was a pain in the ass but we got through it. Our engineering team is happier now, but we definitely lost some visibility across teams. Worth it if your engineers are driving the decision.

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Linear vs Jira Migration: AI-Optimized Technical Reference

Executive Summary

Linear is a high-performance issue tracking tool optimized for engineering teams. Migration from Jira delivers significant performance gains but creates organizational fragmentation and workflow disruptions for non-technical teams.

Performance Specifications

Load Time Performance

Linear: Pages load instantly vs Jira's significant delays
Critical Impact: Enables productive morning bug triage instead of rage-quitting
Quantified Benefit: No specific metrics provided, but described as "way faster than Jira"

Scale Limitations

Performance Degradation: Search becomes noticeably slower with large ticket volumes (specific threshold not documented)
Mobile Failure Point: iOS app crashes with >2 attachments per issue
Enterprise Limit: Free plan's 250 issue limit includes closed tickets, forcing upgrade within 6 weeks for 15-person team

Resource Requirements

Migration Costs (Hidden)

Technical Time: 0.5 weeks of senior developer time for data conversion scripts
Data Loss: Custom fields, ticket relationships, and attachments lost during migration
Training Time:
- Engineers: 1 week to full productivity
- Project Managers: 1 month, may remain frustrated
- Marketing teams: Often abandon after 2 weeks

Ongoing Resource Investment

Tool Multiplication: Typically results in 3+ tools instead of 1 (Linear + Notion + spreadsheets)
Integration Maintenance: Slack integration requires manual reconnection every few weeks
Custom Dashboard Development: Required for executive reporting needs

Critical Failure Modes

Integration Failures

GitHub Integration: Breaks randomly without warning, PRs stop creating tickets
Slack Integration: Dies regularly requiring manual reconnection
Mobile Apps: Android sync unreliable, iOS crashes frequently
Offline Mode: Limited to viewing only, no ticket creation during network issues

Organizational Breakdown Points

Project Manager Rebellion: Occurs when PMs need Gantt charts, custom fields, or advanced reporting
Executive Dashboard Crisis: No built-in analytics for board meetings or budget tracking
Cross-team Visibility Loss: Engineering gains efficiency while other teams lose oversight

Configuration That Actually Works

Successful Implementation Profile

Team Size: 5-50 people, 80%+ engineers
Reporting Needs: Basic metrics only ("bugs closed this week")
Decision Authority: Engineering-driven tooling decisions
Process Tolerance: Comfortable with tool fragmentation

Critical Prerequisites

Leadership Buy-in: Executives must accept reduced visibility
PM Adaptation: Project managers need alternative reporting workflows
Security Clearance: InfoSec approval for limited enterprise controls

Enterprise Security Limitations

Missing Compliance Features

No SAML group synchronization
No advanced audit logging
No SOC2 compliance dashboard
Limited role-based access controls

Risk Assessment

Acceptable Risk: Startups and small companies
High Risk: Banks, heavily regulated industries
Evaluation Period: Expect 3 months of InfoSec review before approval/rejection

Decision Matrix

Team Profile	Recommendation	Risk Level
5-15 engineers, minimal PM oversight	Strongly Recommended	Low
15-50 mixed team, engineering-led decisions	Recommended with caveats	Medium
50+ people, PM-driven processes	Not Recommended	High
Enterprise with compliance requirements	Avoid	Very High

Real-World Performance Comparison

Factor	Linear	Jira	Asana	Monday.com
Engineer Adoption Time	1 week	4+ weeks	2 weeks	3 weeks
PM Satisfaction	Low (missing features)	Medium (familiar complexity)	High (built for PMs)	High (visual interface)
Search Functionality	Excellent until scale	Fundamentally broken	Basic but works	Good visual search
Mobile Reliability	Poor (crashes)	Poor (barely functional)	Excellent	Good
Cross-team Adoption	Engineering only	Organization-wide	Mixed teams work	Universal

Migration Warning Indicators

Stop Signs (Don't Migrate If)

PM drives tooling decisions instead of engineers
Need detailed compliance reporting
Require complex approval workflows
Executive dashboards are non-negotiable
Heavy investment in Jira customizations

Proceed Carefully (High Risk)

Teams larger than 50 people
Multiple stakeholder approval required
Existing tool integration dependencies
Time tracking requirements
Multi-team coordination needs

Operational Intelligence

Common Misconceptions

"It's just faster Jira": Linear has fundamentally different workflow assumptions
"Migration is straightforward": Data loss and manual reconstruction required
"Cost is just $8/month": Real cost includes migration time, training, and tool proliferation

Success Patterns

Engineering-driven adoption with leadership support
Acceptance of reduced non-engineering visibility
Budget for custom dashboard development
Plan for 2-3 month transition period

Failure Patterns

PM attempts to recreate Jira workflows
Executive demands for complex reporting
InfoSec rejection after lengthy evaluation
Non-technical team abandonment

Time Investment Analysis

Break-Even Point

Technical Teams: Productivity gains within 2-4 weeks
Overall Organization: May never break even due to fragmentation costs
ROI Factors: Heavily dependent on engineering team size and decision authority

Long-term Maintenance

Regular integration troubleshooting (weekly)
Ongoing training for new team members
Custom reporting system maintenance
Multi-tool coordination overhead

Critical Success Factors

Engineering Authority: Engineers must drive the decision and have leadership backing
Expectation Management: Non-technical teams need alternative workflows
Integration Planning: Budget time for custom API development
Security Clearance: Obtain InfoSec approval early in evaluation
Change Management: Plan for 2-3 month organizational adjustment period

This technical reference provides the operational intelligence needed for informed Linear adoption decisions while preserving all critical context about real-world implementation challenges and organizational impacts.

Useful Links for Further Investigation

Resources I Actually Used During Our Migration

Link	Description
Linear Free Trial	Just sign up and import some real tickets. You'll know in a day whether your team will love it or hate it.
Trustpilot Reviews	Read the 2-star reviews - they'll tell you what'll actually piss off your team. The 5-star reviews are useless.
Product Hunt Reviews	More developer opinions, less marketing bullshit. Still a lot of fanboys but you'll find some honest complaints.
Linear's Migration Docs	I spent 3 hours reading these migration docs and still fucked up our import. They don't warn you how broken Jira's XML export is.
Linear API Docs	You'll probably need to use their API to fix shit that the migration tools break. The GraphQL is well designed, which is nice.
GitHub Issues	Free and simple. If Linear pisses off your team, GitHub Issues might be enough. Depends on how much process you actually need.
Asana	This is what I'd recommend if your PM drives tooling decisions instead of engineers. Better for teams that aren't 90% technical.
Linear Status Page	Their status updates suck but you can at least check if the app is broken or if it's just your shitty internet.
Linear Changelog	They ship stuff regularly, which is nice. Check this when something breaks to see if they "improved" it recently.

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