25  GitHub Projects

Sure, here’s a detailed chapter on GitHub Projects for beginners:

GitHub Projects is a powerful feature that helps you organize and track work on your repositories. It provides Kanban-style boards for managing tasks and workflows efficiently.

It allows you to plan and manage work by creating project boards. These boards contain issues, pull requests, and notes organized as cards in columns.

25.1 Creating a GitHub Project

Step-by-step guide:

  1. Navigate to Your Repository or Organization: Go to the repository or organization where you want to create a project.

  2. Access the ‘Projects’ Tab: In your repository or organization’s main page, click on the ‘Projects’ tab.

  3. Click ‘New Project’: Click on the ‘New project’ button to create a new project.

  4. Set Up Your Project:

    • Name: Give your project a meaningful name.
    • Description: Add a description to explain the purpose of the project.
    • Template: Choose a template if available or start with a blank project.

25.2 Managing Project Boards

Once your project is created, you can start managing it by adding columns and cards.

25.2.1 Adding Columns

Columns help organize tasks into categories such as ‘To Do’, ‘In Progress’, and ‘Done’.

  1. Click ‘Add column’: Click on the ‘Add column’ button on your project board.

  2. Name Your Column: Provide a name for the column, e.g., ‘To Do’.

  3. Repeat for Additional Columns: Create additional columns as needed for your workflow.

25.2.2 Adding Cards

Cards represent tasks and can be issues, pull requests, or notes.

  1. Add an Issue or Pull Request: Drag an existing issue or pull request from the sidebar into a column.

  2. Create a Note: Click on ‘Add a note’ in a column to create a custom task or note.

25.3 Best Practices for Using GitHub Projects

25.3.1 Organizing Work

  • Use Clear Column Names: Use intuitive names for columns that reflect the workflow stages.
  • Prioritize Tasks: Drag and drop cards to prioritize tasks within a column.

25.3.2 Collaboration

  • Assign Cards to Team Members: Assign issues or pull requests to team members to clarify ownership.
  • Use Labels: Apply labels to cards for additional categorization and filtering.

25.3.3 Tracking Progress

  • Regular Updates: Update the status of cards regularly to reflect current progress.
  • Close Completed Cards: Move completed tasks to the ‘Done’ column and close the corresponding issues or pull requests.

25.4 Advanced Features

25.4.1 Automation

GitHub Projects allows for automation of workflows with triggers that move cards across columns based on certain actions, such as closing an issue or merging a pull request.

25.4.2 Integrations

Integrate GitHub Projects with other tools and services using GitHub Actions, webhooks, or third-party services to enhance your project management.

This chapter should help beginners understand how to set up and manage GitHub Projects effectively. Adjust the examples and explanations to fit the depth required for your book.