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Ticketing Conventions

All work is tracked in Linear (app.linear.app). GitHub Issues are secondary — Linear is the source of truth. This guide reflects the post-W3 native-fields taxonomy (IT-1884).

Issue States

State Meaning
Backlog Parked — external blocker only (missing access, hardware, 3rd-party dependency). Not for internal dependencies.
Todo Ready to pick up
In Progress Actively being worked
In Review Needs Rachel's attention — always paired with a do: label
Blocked Blocked by an external condition — add a comment explaining the blocker
Done Complete
Cancelled Won't do

Backlog vs Blocked: Use Backlog only for conditions outside our control. Use Blocked (with a comment) for anything internally dependent.

Priority

Level Meaning
Urgent P0 — needs immediate attention
High P1 — this sprint
Medium P2 — next sprint
Low P3 — when capacity allows
No priority Background / maintenance

Labels

Agent labels

Label Meaning
finn Assigned to Finn (Sonnet AI agent) for implementation
dotti Assigned to Dotti (Haiku AI agent) for data/admin tasks
blitz Currently being executed by a parallel Blitz agent

Escalation labels

Label Meaning
rachel Requires Rachel's manual attention — always paired with In Review state
do:decide Business decision required
do:manual Requires manual action (MFA, physical login, hardware)
do:pay Payment required

Teams and Routing

Ask "whose desk does this land on?" to determine the right team/initiative.

Initiative When to use
IT: Installation Sysadmin setting up, configuring, or connecting any system
IT: Systems Admin Ongoing config management, user accounts
IT: Account Setup / Edit Creating or editing accounts in external tools
IT: Monitoring Dashboards, alerts, observability, health checks
IT: Tool Selection Evaluating and selecting tools before installation
RevOps: Grants Grant applications, pipeline, funder relationships
RevOps: GTM Sales pipeline, outreach
RevOps: Advertising Campaign ROI, spend decisions
Content Content production
Data: Migration Data cleanup, normalisation, migration

Common misclassifications:

  • Setting up BAS automation → IT: Installation (not RevOps)
  • Creating bank rules in Xero → IT: Installation
  • Applying for a grant → RevOps: Grants
  • Setting up a monitoring dashboard → IT: Monitoring

Issue Types

Two types only:

  1. "Set up / connect X" — atomic setup or connection task
  2. Pipeline integration issue — a named pipeline step or integration point

No sprint planning documents or planning overviews as issues.

Linking Issues to PRs and Commits

Always link the Linear identifier in the PR and commit:

  • PR description: Closes IT-1234 or Implements IT-1234
  • Commit footer: Closes IT-1234

This auto-links the PR to the Linear issue and closes it on merge.

Linear Hierarchy

Team > Initiative > Project > Issue

Each team has a bucket project (catch-all) for issues not yet assigned to a specific project. Use the bucket project rather than leaving issues unassigned.