Collections MVP: Enable teams to manage work independent from code structure

Summary

Implement GLQL as a presentation and aggregation layer for cross-project work, providing teams with saved queries that can be viewed as lists, boards, or roadmaps.

This MVP addresses the immediate need for work visibility.

Background

From issue #410068 and recent design critiques, we've identified that teams need to manage work independent from how they manage their code.

GLQL can serve as an MVP by providing:

  • Cross-project work aggregation without new infrastructure
  • Multiple view types for the same dataset
  • Saved and shareable queries
  • A path toward full Collections functionality

Problem Statement

Current State:

  • Work scattered across multiple projects with no unified view
  • Can link items cross-group but cannot view as boards
  • No common data/metadata across top-level groups
  • Teams resort to spreadsheets for cross-project reporting
  • Constant context switching between projects

User Pain: The mismatch between product structure and organizational structure forces teams into inefficient workflows.

Objectives

Enable teams to:

  1. View and manage work items from anywhere within their organization using multiple standard views
  2. Have common data for organization across projects
  3. Generate analytics and metrics for team-based reporting

Proposal

Phase 0 (MVP): GLQL as Presentation Layer

What we're building:

CleanShot 2025-10-02 at 16.05.06.mp4

  • Basic = Our current filter tokens implementation
  • GLQL = Our query language

CleanShot 2025-09-25 at 17.54.29.mp4

  • Saved GLQL queries as reusable views
  • View switching: list → board → roadmap without context change
  • Share queries with team members

User Journeys

Product Manager: Cross-Project Planning

Current: Navigate between 5 projects, manually track in spreadsheet

With GLQL: Create query "team:recipes AND (project:A OR project:B OR project:C)" Result: Single board view with unified milestones, export replaced Metric: 5 contexts → 1 context

Engineering Manager: Dependency Tracking

Current: No visibility into cross-team dependencies

With GLQL: Query "assignee:@team-backend AND blocks:@team-frontend" Result: Board showing all blocking work across projects Metric: 0 visibility → full visibility

Team Lead: Status Reporting

Current: Export to spreadsheet, add notes, share via email

With GLQL: Add custom columns to saved view, share link Result: Live data with annotations, no external tools Metric: 2 hours → 10 minutes weekly

MVP Scope

  • Switch between GLQL and basic filter
  • Save/share GLQL queries
  • Switch between list/board/roadmap views
  • Add view-specific filters
  • Basic custom columns (text/notes)
  • Performance optimizations

References

@himkp @nickleonard @mvanremmerden @armin.pasalic

Edited by Alex Fracazo