Manage Projects with GitHub
This skill area is 5–10% of the exam. It covers GitHub Projects and its layout options, configuring projects with labels, milestones, and workflows, using saved replies and assignees, and reading project insights to track progress.
GitHub Projects & Layout Options
GitHub Projects is a flexible, spreadsheet-like planning tool that lives alongside your issues and pull requests. It's built on your real repository data, so items stay in sync automatically.
Layout / View Options
| Layout | Best for |
|---|---|
| Table | A powerful spreadsheet view — group, sort, and filter items with custom fields. |
| Board | A Kanban-style board with columns (e.g. To do / In progress / Done) for status tracking. |
| Roadmap | A timeline view that plots items across dates to visualize schedules and milestones. |
The current experience is simply called Projects (formerly "Projects v2" / "the new Projects"). It supports custom fields (text, number, date, single-select, iteration) and multiple saved views of the same items — a big upgrade over the older board-only "classic projects."
Configuring Labels, Milestones & Workflows
Labels
- Labels categorize issues and PRs (e.g.
bug,enhancement,good first issue,help wanted). - Repos ship with default labels; you can create custom labels with names, colors, and descriptions.
Milestones
- A milestone groups issues/PRs toward a shared goal (e.g. a release) with an optional due date.
- Milestones show a progress bar based on the percentage of closed items.
Built-in Workflows (Automation)
- Projects include built-in workflows that automate item status — e.g. set an item to "In progress" when reopened, or "Done" when an issue/PR is closed, or auto-add newly created items.
- These reduce manual board upkeep without writing any code.
Saved Replies & Assignees
- Saved replies let you store reusable comment text and insert it into issues/PRs — ideal for answering common questions consistently and saving time.
- Assignees make ownership explicit: assign an issue or PR to the person (or people) responsible for it.
- Together with labels and milestones, these keep team communication clear and work accountable.
Saved replies are configured in your personal account settings and are a per-user feature. Their purpose is to streamline repetitive communication — expect a scenario asking how to respond consistently to recurring questions.
Project Insights
- Project insights generate charts from your project's items to visualize progress and productivity over time.
- Built-in charts (e.g. burn-up) track how work is trending; you can also create custom charts filtered and grouped by your fields.
- Use insights to spot bottlenecks, monitor velocity, and report status to stakeholders.
Study Resources
- Planning & Tracking with Projects (GitHub Docs) Creating projects, layouts, fields, views, and built-in workflows.
- Project Insights (GitHub Docs) Using charts to track progress and productivity.
- Labels & Milestones (GitHub Docs) Organizing and prioritizing work with labels and milestones.
- GitHub Foundations — Part 2 (Microsoft Learn) Includes project management modules.