Where did the work go?
Session 2 gave your handbook pages. Today it gets a nervous system. Most teams scatter their asks across email, chat and memory - then wonder why things fall through. GitHub's answer is disarmingly simple: every piece of work becomes an issue with a permanent number, living at the same address as the documents it is about. Labels sort them, one owner carries each, and a Projects board turns the pile into a week you can actually see.
Issues: the universal todo 5 min live
An issue is one unit of work or discussion with a permanent number. Despite the gloomy name, issues are NOT just bugs - teams use them for tasks, ideas, questions and decisions. Number #12 stays #12 forever: linkable, searchable, quotable in any conversation on the repo.
LiveWhat makes an issue great (and gettable-done)3 min▶
- Verb-first title: "Refresh the Q3 dashboard data" tells you the what in one glance. "Dashboard" tells you nothing; "URGENT!!!" tells you less.
- Context + definition of done: two lines. What is the situation, and what does finished look like? Vague issues create vague work.
- One owner: the assignee. Work assigned to everyone is owned by no one.
- The conversation stays attached: comments thread under the issue,
@mentionsnotify people, and typing#numberslinks issues to each other. Six months later, the whole decision trail is still there, at the same address. - Task lists inside issues:
- [ ]checkboxes from Session 2 render as a live progress bar on the issue list. Sub-tasks without another tool.
Self-studyIssue etiquette + templates2 min read▶
Two habits that make issue conversations pleasant, and one upgrade for later:
- @mention with intent:
@samsends Sam a notification, so mention the person you need, not everyone you know. One name per ask. - Link, do not repeat: typing
#12auto-links to issue 12, and the link shows up on BOTH issues. Related work finds itself; nobody re-explains context. - Issue templates (later): once your team files issues weekly, a template can pre-fill the structure - context, done-looks-like, checklist - so every new issue arrives half-ready. Settings → set up templates when you feel the need; do not build process before the habit exists.
Labels, assignees, milestones 4 min live
A pile of issues becomes a system with three small tools. Labels are color-coded categories you invent yourself. An assignee is the single accountable owner. A milestone is a dated bucket of issues - "the Q3 refresh", "Launch week". Filters then make any slice of the pile one click away.
LiveYour taxonomy, your rules (but keep it small)3 min▶
- Labels: make your own - content, design, review, urgent, idea. Color-coded, filterable, and entirely yours. Keep the set under ~10: a taxonomy nobody remembers is a taxonomy nobody applies.
- Assignee: exactly one accountable person per issue. Others can comment, help, review - but one name carries it over the line.
- Milestone: a bucket with a due date. "Launch week" collects every issue that must land by Friday, and shows a progress bar as they close.
- Filters: the issue list filters by any combination - label:content, assignee:sam, milestone:"Launch week". Any slice of the work, one click.
Triage at open-source scale: maintainers of popular repos handle hundreds of incoming issues a week with little more than labels. One label became a global convention: good-first-issue, marking tasks friendly to newcomers - so effective that GitHub built discovery pages around it, and "find a good-first-issue" is now how thousands of people worldwide make their first contribution. A color-coded sticker created an onboarding system.
Projects: the kanban on top 5 min live
GitHub Projects gives you board and table views built FROM your issues. Columns are status - Todo, In progress, Done - and you drag cards between them. The crucial idea: a card on the board IS the issue. It never leaves its repo; the board is just a view of it.
LiveWhy this beats a separate tool3 min▶
- Columns = status: Todo, In progress, Done to start. Drag a card, the status changes; close the issue, the card moves to Done by itself.
- Custom fields: add Priority, Date, or anything else, and every card gets the field. Table view turns the same data into a spreadsheet.
- An issue can live on a board without leaving its repo. One board can even gather issues from several repos.
- The killer feature is the address: the task and the work live at the same URL. No copy-pasting between the task tool and the document tool, no "which one is true?" - the board is a view, the issue is the truth.
Self-studyTable view and the Monday standup slice2 min read▶
Every Projects board has a Table view of the same cards - a spreadsheet with sortable columns for status, assignee, priority and your custom fields.
- Weekly standup trick: group or slice the table by assignee - each person's week appears as their own block. Walk the blocks, meeting done.
- Slice by milestone before a deadline to see exactly what stands between you and "Launch week: done".
Note: Projects has no dedicated GitHub Skills course - the official reference is docs.github.com (search "GitHub Projects"). Everything above is in there, plus automation recipes for later.
Give the handbook a task list ★ 8 min · everyone files
Open your team-handbook repo → Issues tab → green New issue. Create 4 real issues: two content pages to write ("Write the onboarding page", "Draft the how-we-meet page"), one review task ("Review the front door for tone"), and one idea ("Idea: add a who-does-what directory"). Verb-first titles, one line of context, one line of done-looks-like.
Create 3 labels (Issues → Labels → New label): content, review, idea. Pick colors you will recognize at a glance, then apply one to each issue.
Assign yourself to every issue - one accountable owner, even in a team of one.
Create a milestone called Launch week (Issues → Milestones → New milestone, due date next Friday) and put your 2 content issues in it. Watch the milestone progress bar appear.
Triage like a maintainer ★ 8 min · everyone sorts
Six issues just landed in your repo. You are the maintainer - decide what each one needs first. This is the judgment that keeps real issue lists healthy.
Build the board ★ 6 min · everyone drags
From your repo: Projects tab → New project → choose Board. Name it "Handbook launch". Three columns appear: Todo, In progress, Done.
Add your 4 issues: click + Add item at the bottom of Todo, type # and pick each issue from the list. Four cards, each still living in the repo.
Drag one card to In progress - the one you will actually start this week. Feel free to enjoy the drag; everyone does.
Add a custom field: + New field → Priority (single select: High / Medium / Low), and set it on your cards. Screenshot-worthy in 5 minutes - a real board over real work.
This week ◐ 30 min across the week
- Run one real week through the board: each morning, glance at it; drag what you start, close what you finish. Friday, look at Done and enjoy it.
- Open issues instead of sending 3 task-emails. Next three times you would email someone an ask about shared work, file an issue and @mention them instead.
- Note what changed. One honest sentence at the end of the week: what was different about asks living next to the work? Bring it to Session 4.
Three questions before you go 🎯 ◐ 90 seconds
1 · Which issue is "ready" - safe to leave on the pile knowing it will get done right?
Ready = clear ask + category + single accountable owner. Work assigned to everyone is owned by no one - that was the triage widget's whole lesson.
2 · Labels vs milestones - what is the actual difference?
Labels answer "what kind?" (content, review, idea - your taxonomy, under ~10). Milestones answer "by when?" (Launch week, the Q3 refresh). One issue can have both.
3 · You drag a card across your Projects board. Where does that issue actually live?
The card IS the issue. It never leaves its repo; the board is a lens. That is why closing the issue moves the card, and why there is never a "which one is true?" problem.
Official GitHub Skills coverage
This course maps to GitHub's own free Skills exercises - each session tells you honestly what is covered here and what the official course adds.