Brainforge Knowledge

q2-linear-cleanup

5 min read

Q2 GTM Linear Cleanup Plan

Status: Draft
Created: 2026-03-21
Author: Cursor Agent
Related: LMNT Linear Cleanup (completed), Platform Q2 Planning (completed)

1. Context & Problem Statement

Following successful cleanups for LMNT and Platform teams, the GTM function (Sales, Marketing, Content, GTM teams) requires similar hygiene to prepare for Q2 execution. Current Linear audit reveals:

  • 50+ open issues per team with unclear prioritization
  • 15+ case studies in Marketing backlog — stale or deprioritized
  • Duplicate issues (e.g., CON-372/373 both for Deepfake SEO content)
  • Mixed state usage: Backlog/Todo this Cycle/Next Cycle used inconsistently
  • No clear Q2 initiative structure to align major GTM bets

Goal: Clean, focused Linear workspace that supports Q2 GTM execution and strategic initiative tracking.

2. Principles (From LMNT/Platform Learnings)

  1. Close > Archive > Keep — Be ruthless; reopening is cheap
  2. One source of truth per workstream — No duplicate tracking
  3. Clear ownership — Every active item has assignee, due date, project
  4. Initiative → Project → Issue hierarchy — No orphaned work
  5. State discipline — Backlog (not now) vs Next Cycle (committed) vs In Progress (active)

3. Cleanup Phases

Phase 1: Immediate Hygiene (Week 1)

Stale Item Audit & Closure

  • Close issues not touched since Feb 1, 2026 with no assignee
  • Close canceled campaign tickets (SAL-864, SAL-860, SAL-726)
  • Archive duplicate SEO content tickets (CON-372/373)
  • Resolve “Update WBR metrics” duplicates into single recurring process

State Standardization

  • Document state definitions for GTM teams:
    • Backlog = Valid but not next 4 weeks
    • Next Cycle = Committed for upcoming cycle
    • Todo this Cycle = Active this week
    • In Progress = Actually being worked now

Phase 2: Project Consolidation (Week 2)

Current Chaos → Suggested Structure

CurrentConsolidated
GTM Campaign Briefs (per-campaign)Single “Q2 Campaigns” project with labels
LinkedIn Organic Content + General LinkedInMerge to “Content Calendar”
GTM Operations (metrics + misc)Split: “Sales Ops” vs “Weekly Reporting”
Case Studies (15+ backlog)“Active Case Studies” + “Case Study Icebox”

Milestone Structure for Active Campaigns Apply LMNT-style phase gates:

  • Milestone 1: ICP + Asset Discovery (Weeks 1-2)
  • Milestone 2: Launch + First Touches (Weeks 3-4)
  • Milestone 3: Nurture + Optimize (Weeks 5-8)

Phase 3: Q2 Initiative Setup (Week 3)

Create 4-5 Strategic Initiatives (mirroring Sales Engineering Q2 structure)

  1. Q2 Revenue Campaigns — Active outbound and partnership campaigns
  2. Sales Enablement & Assets — Case studies, decks, demo environments
  3. Content & Community — LinkedIn, events, SEO, thought leadership
  4. GTM Operations — Pipeline hygiene, forecasting, tooling

Each initiative includes:

  • Clear scope and non-goals
  • 2-3 constituent projects
  • Linked issues with estimates

Phase 4: Ongoing Hygiene (Ongoing)

Weekly Triage Ritual

  • Review “Todo this Cycle” → move to In Progress or Backlog
  • Close blocked items older than 2 weeks
  • Ensure all In Progress items have assignee

Monthly Initiative Health Check

  • Update initiative health (Green/Yellow/Red)
  • Archive completed projects
  • Rebalance issues across projects

4. Label Taxonomy

Proposed standard labels for GTM:

Campaign: bask-health, blotout, gov-evidence, agency-intel, dbt, motherduck
Content-Type: case-study, deck, one-pager, video, blog-post
Channel: linkedin, email, event, partnership
Service-Line: data-platform, e2a, ai-agents, reporting
Priority: p0-urgent, p1-high, p2-medium, p3-low
Status: needs-brief, ready-for-work, in-review, blocked

5. Specific Issues to Address

Sales Team (SAL-)

  • SAL-803 — Proposal for Guideposts/Temple Law (due Feb 24, still open)
  • SAL-726 — Past leads for SF/NYC conference (canceled, should close)
  • SAL-860/864 — Canceled March campaigns (close)
  • Multiple WBR metrics tickets — Consolidate to single recurring

Marketing Team (MAR-)

  • Case study backlog triage — 15 items, likely 3-5 true Q2 priorities
  • MAR-154 — BF Brand Guidelines (in progress since March 2025?)
  • Deck backlog — SaaS, Product Analytics, Ecom decks (prioritize vs. kill)

Content Team (CON-)

  • SEO article queue — 8 items, review relevance post-algorithm changes
  • CON-372/373 — Duplicates (close one)
  • Video series backlog — Case study videos, Cursor tutorials (commit or defer)

GTM Team (GTM-)

  • Gov Evidence Intelligence campaign — Active or archive?
  • CTA foundation work — Merge with broader GTM tooling initiative?

6. Success Metrics

MetricBeforeTarget (End of Week 3)
Open issues per team50+30-35 (focused)
Issues without assignee15-20%< 5%
Issues in “In Progress” > 2 weeksUnknown0
Case studies in backlog155 active, 10 archived
Clear Q2 initiatives04-5 defined

7. Risks & Mitigations

RiskMitigation
Team resistance to closing “maybe later” itemsArchive (not delete) — easy to restore
Loss of context for stale case studiesCreate “Case Study Icebox” doc in vault before archiving
Over-engineering structureStart simple — 4 initiatives, expand if needed
Cleanup takes > 3 weeksTime-box each phase; partial progress is acceptable

8. Open Questions

  1. Which case studies are true Q2 priorities vs. nice-to-have?
  2. Is Gov Evidence Intelligence campaign active or paused?
  3. Should we merge GTM team into Sales, or keep separate?
  4. What’s the right recurring process for WBR metrics updates?
  5. Are SEO content items still relevant given recent algorithm shifts?

9. Next Steps

  • Review and approve plan (owner: Uttam)
  • Schedule 30-min kickoff with Luke/Robert/Hannah
  • Begin Phase 1: Stale item audit (assign to agent or ops person)
  • Document state definitions in Linear or playbook
  • Create Q2 initiative templates
  • Linear audit notes: [agent conversation 2026-03-21]
  • LMNT cleanup pattern: knowledge/clients/lmnt/
  • Platform Q2 planning: knowledge/plans/q2-2026-platform-planning/
  • Linear ticket standards: standards/04-prompts/tickets/linear-ticket-generation-from-transcript.md

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