Workflow Modes

GuideMode supports multiple workflow modes for connecting discovery research to delivery work. Whether your team uses a single issue that progresses through phases or separate discovery and delivery issues, GuideMode tracks the complete journey with unified metrics.

Dual-Track Agile Background

The concept of Dual-Track Agile was popularized by Marty Cagan and Jeff Patton in 2012. The methodology separates work into two parallel tracks:

• Discovery Track: Determine what to build through research, spikes, and validation
• Delivery Track: Build and ship how through implementation and deployment

The industry has since evolved toward Continuous Discovery and Continuous Delivery framing, emphasizing that these aren’t separate phases but ongoing parallel activities. GuideMode supports both interpretations through flexible workflow modes.

Key principle: Two tracks, one team. The same people work both discovery and delivery, just with different focus at different times.

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Choosing Your Workflow Mode

GuideMode supports two primary workflow modes. Choose based on your team’s needs:

Aspect	Single-Track	Dual-Track
Issue count	One issue end-to-end	Separate discovery and delivery issues
Best for	Small teams, spikes that become implementations	Formal validation, cross-functional collaboration
Backlog	Single unified backlog	Can use separate discovery/delivery backlogs
Validation	Implicit (issue progresses)	Explicit (link created on validation)
Cross-provider	Single provider	Discovery and delivery can be in different tools

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Single-Track Mode

In single-track mode, a single issue progresses through all workflow phases from discovery through delivery to completion.

How It Works

One issue with type: discovery moves through the subStatus phases:

Timestamps Tracked

All phase transitions are recorded on the same issue:

Timestamp	Set When
createdAt	Issue created
readyAt	Moved to ready
discoveryStartedAt	Research phase began
deliveryStartedAt	Implementation started
reviewStartedAt	Entered review/QA
closedAt	Completed

Metrics Available

Single-track issues contribute to both Discovery Flow and Delivery Flow metrics:

• Discovery Duration: discoveryStartedAt → deliveryStartedAt
• Delivery Duration: deliveryStartedAt → closedAt
• Total Lead Time: createdAt → production deployment

When to Use Single-Track

• Spikes that become implementations: The research directly produces the code
• Small teams: Less overhead managing separate issues
• Quick iterations: Research and implementation happen rapidly
• Same person owns both: Developer researches and implements

Setup Requirements

1. Configure label mappings so issues get type: discovery
2. Configure status mappings for your discovery and delivery phases
3. Ensure your project board has columns for discovery, delivery, and review

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Dual-Track Mode

In dual-track mode, discovery and delivery are separate issues connected by links. This enables formal validation workflows and cross-provider setups.

How It Works

Two separate issues with their own lifecycles, connected by a validates link:

Link Types

Link Type	Direction	Meaning
validates	Discovery → Feature	Discovery research proved hypothesis
invalidates	Discovery → (closed)	Research disproved hypothesis
implements	Feature → Discovery	Feature implements validated discovery

Metrics Available

Dual-track enables rich cross-issue metrics:

Discovery Flow Metrics:

• Validation Rate: % of discoveries that validated into features
• Validated Feature Count: How many features came from each discovery
• Discovery to Production: Time from discovery close to feature deployment

Delivery Flow Metrics:

• From Discovery Count: Issues that originated from discovery
• From Discovery %: Percentage of work from discovery process
• Source Discovery ID: Link back to originating research

When to Use Dual-Track

• Formal validation required: Stakeholder sign-off before implementation
• Cross-functional teams: Product, design, and engineering work in parallel
• Research investment tracking: Measure ROI of discovery work
• Different owners: Researcher hands off to implementer
• Cross-provider setups: Discovery in one tool, delivery in another

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Cross-Provider Dual-Track

GuideMode’s unique capability is supporting dual-track workflows across different tools. Your product team can use Notion for research while engineering delivers in GitHub.

Supported Provider Combinations

GuideMode supports any combination of connected providers:

Discovery In	Delivery In	Use Case
Notion	GitHub	Product research → Engineering implementation
Notion	Linear	Design research → Team delivery
Jira	GitHub	Enterprise PM → Open source development
Jira	Linear	Agile planning → Modern issue tracking
Linear	GitHub	Product planning → Multi-repo implementation

How Cross-Provider Linking Works

When you add a URL from another provider in your issue description, GuideMode automatically detects and creates the link.

Step-by-step flow:

1. Create discovery: Add research issue in your discovery tool
2. Add target URL: When validated, add the delivery issue URL to description
3. Sync discovery: GuideMode detects the URL and creates a pending link
4. Sync delivery: When the target issue syncs, link resolves automatically
5. Metrics unified: End-to-end metrics now span both tools

Pending Link Resolution

Links can be created before the target issue is synced. GuideMode stores them as “pending” and resolves them when the target appears:

Link State	Target Issue Status	Behavior
Pending	Not yet synced	Stored with external ID, waiting
Resolved	Synced	Connected, metrics flow

This handles timing differences between providers - you can link to an issue before it’s synced to GuideMode.

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Notion + GitHub/Linear Setup

A common pattern where product research happens in Notion and delivery in GitHub or Linear.

Configuration Steps

1. Connect both integrations

   • Set up Notion integration in Settings → Integrations → Notion
   • Set up GitHub/Linear integration

2. Configure Notion database mapping

   • Map your Notion database to GuideMode
   • Set issue type mapping so pages become discovery type

3. Enable URL detection

   • GuideMode automatically scans Notion page content for GitHub/Linear URLs
   • No additional configuration needed

Example Workflow

URL Patterns Detected

Provider	Pattern	Example
GitHub	github.com/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}	github.com/acme/api/issues/123
Linear	linear.app/{workspace}/issue/{id}	linear.app/acme/issue/ACM-456

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Jira Discovery + GitHub Setup

For organizations using Jira for product management and GitHub for development.

Configuration Steps

1. Connect both integrations

   • Set up Jira OAuth in Settings → Integrations → Jira
   • Set up GitHub App in Settings → Integrations → GitHub

2. Configure Jira label mappings

   • Map labels like “spike”, “research”, “discovery” to type: discovery
   • Map “story”, “feature” to type: feature

3. Configure Jira link type mappings (optional)

   • Map Jira link types to GuideMode types
   • Example: Jira “Implements” → GuideMode validates

Example Workflow

Two Linking Methods

Method 1: URL in description (automatic)

• Add GitHub URL to Jira issue description
• GuideMode detects and creates link on sync

Method 2: Jira native links (requires mapping)

• Use Jira’s “Link Issue” feature with external URL
• Configure link type mapping in Settings

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Hybrid Approaches

Many teams use a combination of single-track and dual-track depending on the work:

Quick Spikes (Single-Track)

Small technical investigations where the same person researches and implements:

• Create discovery issue
• Research → Implement → Deploy in one issue
• Fast iteration, minimal overhead

Major Features (Dual-Track)

Significant work requiring validation:

• Discovery issue for research
• Stakeholder review and validation
• Separate feature issue for implementation
• Full metrics tracking

Migration Between Modes

You can migrate between modes as your team evolves:

Single → Dual: Start creating separate delivery issues and linking back Dual → Single: Have discovery issues progress through delivery phases

GuideMode tracks metrics regardless of which mode you use - the same Discovery Flow and Delivery Flow cubes work for both.

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Metrics Comparison

Both modes feed into the same analytics system, but with different characteristics:

Metric	Single-Track Source	Dual-Track Source
Discovery Duration	discoveryStartedAt → deliveryStartedAt on same issue	createdAt → closedAt on discovery issue
Validation Rate	Implicit (100% if reaches delivery)	Explicit (discoveries with validates links)
Lead Time	All phases on one issue	Aggregated across linked issues
From Discovery %	By issue type	By presence of validates link

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Best Practices

For Single-Track

• Use clear status column names (Discovery, Development, Review)
• Configure label mappings so discovery work is properly typed
• Ensure status mappings capture the discovery → delivery transition

For Dual-Track

• Always add the delivery URL when validating discovery
• Use consistent link patterns (URL in description works best)
• Close discovery issues when validation decision is made
• Don’t forget invalidates links for rejected research

For Cross-Provider

• Sync both providers regularly for timely link resolution
• Use the canonical URL format for each provider
• Check pending links if metrics seem incomplete

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Related Documentation

• Issue Linking - How links are detected and resolved
• Status Mapping - Configure workflow states
• Label Mapping - Map labels to issue types
• Discovery Flow - Complete discovery metrics
• Delivery Flow - Complete delivery metrics