# Migration task force with office hours

> Form a small cross-functional switch team and back it with recurring office hours so the migration has owners, shared language, and visible help.

- Canonical HTML: https://growth.iangoh.com/growth-ideas/migration-task-force-with-office-hours/
- Source: [linear.app](https://linear.app/customers/automattic)
- GrowthDex source hub: [Linear](/sources/linear-linear-app/)
- Last checked: 2026-05-25
- Rarity: rare
- Budget: medium
- Channels: Community, Lifecycle, Sales
- Stages: migration, enablement, change management, retention


## Why this can grow

A switch usually fails on coordination before it fails on product quality. A small task force keeps decisions from drifting across design, product, ops, and engineering. Office hours do the second job: they turn support into a visible public utility instead of a pile of private anxiety in direct messages. That makes the move feel staffed, not improvised.

## Ian's take

From scaling consumer platforms across MENA and Southeast Asia, my default is to distrust growth work that only looks good in a slide. My bias is to treat this as a small market test first. Make the audience narrow, make the promise concrete, and let the first real response decide whether it deserves more work. For retention, I would watch the second and third use, not just the first click. A tactic is real when it changes a habit. For this tactic, I would watch one clear growth signal before putting more time or budget behind it.

## Action plan

1. Define one narrow startup segment where migration task force with office hours can create a measurable lift.
2. Turn the tactic into one offer, page, campaign, or workflow for the Community and Lifecycle channel.
3. Use the evidence from linear.app to set the first version of the message, format, and audience.
4. Launch a small test for 7 to 14 days with one success metric: one measurable growth signal.
5. Review the result, keep the winning message, remove weak variants, and turn the learning into a repeatable growth playbook.

## Source-backed example

Automattic created a small 'Lanekeepers' task force across design ops, product ops, quality ops, and engineering, while Linear's customer team hosted office hours several times a week as thousands of GitHub issues were moved over in about a month.

## Adjacent tactics in the same lane

- [Migration Slack channel for switcher support](/growth-ideas/migration-slack-channel-for-switcher-support/) - same source, 2 shared channels, 4 shared stages
- [Internal transition guide with pilot findings and team quotes](/growth-ideas/internal-transition-guide-with-pilot-findings-and-team-quotes/) - same source, 1 shared channel, 2 shared stages
- [Trial sync before full project-tracker cutover](/growth-ideas/trial-sync-before-full-project-tracker-cutover/) - same source, 1 shared channel, 1 shared stage
- [Go-live date tied to the old tool's renewal window](/growth-ideas/go-live-date-tied-to-the-old-tools-renewal-window/) - same source, 1 shared channel, 1 shared stage

## Read GrowthDex essays

Browse the plain-English essay index at [GrowthDex Blog](/blog/).

## Related GrowthDex essays

- [The switch should feel boring before it feels done](/blog/the-switch-should-feel-boring-before-it-feels-done/) - switcher intent, migration, trust

## Advisory

If you want help turning this into a working growth system, Ian Goh offers advisory at https://iangoh.com/advisory.