Project management

We have experimented with many project management tools and methods.

Trello

Trello lets you move cards across lists. Cards can contain checklists, comments, attachments, labels, letting you flexibly organize your tasks. In our experience, this approach works best for standardized, repetitive workflows. We use Trello for release management and handling data requests.

GitHub

Each project has its own repository on GitHub. You should always know what repository your work belongs to, this is where you will be pushing your work.

GitHub lets you create issues for each repository. Issues are tasks to be done and are a simple way to organize your work with team mates. An active project has a growing number of closed issues and dozens of open ones.

When you open a new issue (i.e., create a new task), pay attention to the following:

Title

Give a concise description of the thing to be done or the error that you face. Use active, specific language, such as "Remove gridlines from Figure 2", not "Edits needed".

Description

Describe the intended outcome and the necessary steps as much as you can. You know best what you want to get done, write it down.

Status

An issue can be open (still working on it) or closed (fixed or deemed not relevant). When you close an issue, also comment on your solution.

Labels

You can select one ore more labels to classify your issue. This is not mandatory, but can help prioritize efforts if there are dozens or hundreds of open issues. Standard labels include "bug" (something isn't working) or "question." Developers can label your issue as "duplicate" or "wontfix."

Assignee

Only assign an issue to a user if you are sure who is responsible for fixing it. For example, it is always encouraged to write yourself an issue and assign it to yourself. It will help you manage your todos, and others will also see what you are working on.

Milestone

Milestones are a way of prioritizing issues and matching them to external deadlines. This is typically done by a manager. Example milestones can include "EEA presentation 2021" or "Cegjegyzek LTS alpha release".