Git-Productive With GitHub

This is a guide to showcase the use of GitHub's project management tools (Projects, Issues, and Milestones) as a productivity tool. This readme file explains a little bit about this system.

Table of contents

• Introduction
• GitHub Issues
  • Good Issue management
• GitHub Projects
  • Views and layouts
  • Iterations and Workflows
• How to use this repository/system
  • Creating task items
  • Utilizing assignees, labels, and milestones
    • Creating labels
    • Assignees
    • Milestones
  • Projects
• Other Resources

Introduction

Welcome to this repository, a guide designed to help beginners set up a productivity system using GitHub's project management tools.

This is a follow-up to an article written on the same topic. I recommend starting with the article linked here, which provides an overview of the system, explains why it's worth considering, and outlines the benefits you can expect.

This Readme primarily focuses on beginner-friendly content, offering guidance on setting up issues, milestones, and projects. It provides step-by-step instructions for each component.

For those already familiar with these tools, feel free to utilize the template repository and explore the features to customize your productivity system.

GitHub Issues

GitHub issues are individual task items that can be easily created in any GitHub repository, including this one. They consist of two main parts:

1. Title
   The title should be clear and concise, providing a snapshot of the issue.

2. Body
   The body contains the details of the issue. You can use markdown syntax to format the text, but if you're not familiar with markdown, GitHub's user interface provides options for formatting without coding knowledge. After creating it, you click on review to see how the body will look like when the issue is created.

Good Issue management

Several features are available to help you effectively manage your issues:

1. Task Lists

   Break down issues into smaller action items using task lists. This simplifies understanding and tracks progress. You can utilize the "Tasks Done" section to monitor completion.

2. Assignees

   Assign issues to team members or yourself using the assignees feature. It facilitates task delegation and ownership.

3. Labels

   Labels group and organize items in the repository. Each repository has its own set of labels for categorizing issues. You can override default labels as explained in the label section of this ReadMe file. Issues can have multiple labels.

4. Milestones

   Track the progress of a collection of issues using milestones. They serve as progress indicators.

5. Templates and Forms

   Issue templates and forms ensure accurate information collection by enforcing a structured approach. Templates provide a consistent format for task items. Issue forms require more technical setup. You can refer to the documentation to learn more about setting up issue templates and issue forms.

GitHub Projects

GitHub Projects provides a higher-level view of your issues and their lifecycle over a specific period.

Views and Layouts

Views allow you to focus on specific aspects of your project. There are three main views available:

• Kanban View
• Board View
• Roadmap View

Select the view that best suits your needs or toggle between different views based on your preference.

Iterations and Workflows

Iterations are useful for teams using workflow methodologies like SCRUM or AGILE. They help break down issues into manageable iterations within GitHub Projects.

Workflows automate repetitive tasks, simplifying your work. You can toggle default workflows on and off in the workflows tab of your GitHub Project.

How to use this repository/system

To be able to utilize these features and this repository you need to:

1. Have a GitHub account. If you don't have one you can check this guide.
2. Sign in to your GitHub account to utilize the template repository feature

Creating task items

1. First of all, to easily use this repository, you can duplicate it (since it is a template). This will create a copy of this repository in your GitHub profile. Just click the 'use this template' button and select 'create a new repository'. Then enter a name for your repository and set it either public or private

Creating a repository from the template

1. Create your issues.

   Remember in our case these, issues act as your task items. The things you need to do. To create a GitHub issue:

   • Navigate to the Issues tab of your repository. It shows existing tasks, their labels, assignees, and other details. But since this is a new repository there will be no issues. So let's create one

Issues tab for creating issues

• Click on new issue and then enter the details of your issue/task. I had an issue template setup for the repo called task item. Click on get started and then modify the template with your task's details. Issue templates give you an easier way to define a structure for your issues, save time in creating them and get accurate information. You can learn more about issue templates on GitHub's official docs Issue template page

• Click get started and enter the details of your issue. The title and body contain task items. The editor uses markdown format. If you are not familiar with markdown, you can use GitHub's editor options at the top of the issue body section Issue creation tab

• After entering all the details, click on submit new issue, and voila! 😃 You just created your first issue. However hold on before you hit that create issue button, we need to add a few details to our issues first. View of a created issue

Utilizing assignees, labels, and milestones

Before creating an issue, it is important to add labels, assign issues and even select the milestones the issue is part of

Creating labels

Now let's learn how we can create labels first.

• Navigating to the issue tab on the repo, and selecting labels will open up the labels. Issues tab

• Every repository usually has GitHub's default labels. You can, however, create new labels, edit or even delete existing ones. Add a new label, delete, or edit existing ones. Iabel tab of the repository

• You can select the labels associated with your issue when creating an issue. One issue can have multiple labels. Adding labels while creating an issue/task

Assignees

You can also add assignees while creating an issue. It is a sense of responsibility. It works best when you are collaborating with others in an accountability system. You can also assign issues to yourself. Assignees selection while creating an issue

Milestones

Milestones are useful in grouping tasks that work towards a common goal. It also helps you track the progress of the milestone. To create milestones:

• Go to the issues tab and select milestones. Then create the milestone Select Milestone from the issues tab

• When creating a milestone, you just select a title, description, and a due date for the milestone (which is optional) Enter details of the milestone to create it

• You can then select the milestone to individual issues associated with it either while creating it or after creating the issue Selecting a milestone for your issue

Now whenever you close the issue, your milestone will track the progress, showing issues open and those closed. Milestone with 50% progress

Projects

This is the tool that brings everything together. It helps one make sense of everything.

You can create a project for each repository you have and then associate your issues with the project. To create a GitHub project:

• Navigate to the projects tab on your repository Projects tab location on your repository

• You can click on link a project and then create a new project if you have none but if you have an existing one you'd like to use, link to it. Create or link a GitHub project

• Select a view for your project. There are also templates available for use in certain project scenarios. Selecting a view for your project

• After creating you can select the pencil icon next to the project name to change the name of your project and also add a description Editing details of your project

• Now you can go to your issues and add the project to them. This will have them show up on your project view Connecting an issue with a GitHub Project

• The issue will be visible on your project view. Each view has different features and customization options. For example, the board feature allows you to drag across issues to set their status. You can also customize your status for all views etc. Projct's view after connecting it with an issue

Now there are a lot of things you can do with GitHub Projects and set it up. I will only talk about workflows and then share resources where you can learn more about Projects.

Workflows make it easy to work with GitHub Projects as they help do repetitive tasks through automation. To set up some workflows, navigate to workflows from your project Opening workflows from your GitHub project

• In the workflows tab, you can see all the available workflows and their status. Whether on or off. Workflow tab showing the workflows and their status

• You can edit a workflow to turn it on or off and change the name.

• Not all workflows will apply to you. Only turn on those that are useful to you. For this system, I found 3 workflows useful.

  • One to set item status to todo whenever it is added to the project.
  • Workflow to status for item done after the issue is closed
  • Workflow to auto-add issues from my repository to this project.

You can learn more about GitHub projects from the official docs

Other Resources

1. Course by Teresa Luz Miller on GitHub Issues and Projects for teams on LinkedIn Learning
2. GitHub official Docs on Projects
3. My article on using GitHub's Project management tools for ultimate productivity
4. Learn more about using labels and milestones from the official docs
5. How do task lists fit in with the issues you create? Read about it from the docs here
6. Everything about Issues in the official docs

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