GitHub Projects for PMs: boards, roadmaps, automation

Alex Tutor

Tuesday afternoon. The milestone tells you how many loyalty items are closed. The CEO's question this morning was a different one: "Who is doing what this week, and are we on track?"

You

And Daniel wants to drag cards instead of writing status messages. A spreadsheet next to GitHub would be out of date by Wednesday.

Alex Tutor

So keep the plan where the work is. GitHub Projects is a planning space on top of issues and pull requests. A project belongs to an organisation or a person, not to one repository.

Daniel

And every item in it is the real issue or pull request, not a copy. When #159 closed this morning, any project holding it knew at once.

Alex Tutor

A project can hold items from several repositories, plus draft items: quick notes that live only in the project until someone converts them into issues.

You

So I create "Loyalty launch" in the catchow organisation and add the milestone's items. Nothing moves out of the repository.

Alex Tutor

Question 1

A GitHub project belongs to one repository and can only show that repository's issues and pull requests.

TrueFalse

Alex Tutor

A project has views, saved as tabs along the top. Each view uses one of three layouts, as of 2026: Table, Board or Roadmap.

Table is a spreadsheet: a row per item, fields as columns, sorting, grouping and editing right in the cell. It's the fastest way to sort out twenty new issues.

Board shows cards in columns, one column per value of a field, usually Status. Moving a card to another column changes that field.

Daniel

That's where I'll live. I drag a card to In progress when I start, and to In review when my pull request is ready.

Alex Tutor

Roadmap puts items on a timeline by a date or iteration field, with markers such as a milestone's due date. It answers "when?", which makes it the view for the CEO.

You

Same items, three ways of looking at them. Change a field in one view and every view shows it.

Alex Tutor

Question 2

Match each need with the part of GitHub Projects that serves it best.

Tap an answer, then tap the row it belongs to. You can also drag.

Set the priority of twenty new issues in one sitting
See at a glance what's in progress and what's waiting for review
Show when each piece should land before 13 November
Show only open items with the label bug

Answers left to place

Alex Tutor

Columns come from fields. Status is built in, starting with Todo, In Progress and Done. Add a fourth option, In review, between the last two, and the board gets a fourth column.

Issues bring their own fields along: assignees, labels, milestone, linked pull requests, even sub-issue progress. On top of that, a project can have custom fields of its own.

You

I'm adding three: Priority with P1 to P3, Target date, and Iteration, one-week slots from Monday to Friday.

Daniel

Iterations are handy. "What's in this week?" becomes a filter instead of a meeting.

Alex Tutor

Custom fields belong to the project: #163 can be P1 here and have no priority in another project. On the issue's own page they show up in the Projects part of the sidebar.

Alex Tutor

"Loyalty launch", Board view, WednesdayEach note starts with the Status column the card sits in.

Switch on loyalty points for all customers#164
Todo · Sofia · target 10 November
Launch loyalty points before Black Friday#147
In progress · Sofia · 1 of 4 sub-issues closed
Spend points at checkout#163
In progress · Daniel · P1 · target 5 November
Write loyalty programme page#157
In progress · Emma · P2
Show points balance in the account#162
In review · linked pull request #166 · Daniel · P1
Points counted before promo discount#159
Done · closed by #165

You

Four columns of real work, and the parent sits in In progress with "1 of 4" on it.

Alex Tutor

Read a board from right to left: what's finished, what's waiting for a reviewer, what's being built, what hasn't started. The waiting column is where a PM can help most.

Alex Tutor

Question 3

Daniel is off tomorrow. Looking at the board above, which of his items is closest to done, and what is it waiting for?

Choose one answer#163: it has priority P1, so it merges next#159: it is in Done and only waits for the release#162: its pull request #166 is in review and waits for an approval and a merge#147: it is in progress and assigned to him

You

Who keeps all this current? I don't want to spend Fridays chasing people to drag cards.

Alex Tutor

Partly GitHub. A project has built-in workflows under its Workflows menu, as of 2026. Two are on in a new project: when an item is closed, and when a pull request is merged, Status becomes Done.

Daniel

I've switched on two more. "Item added to project" sets Todo, and "Auto-add to project" pulls in every new catchow/website issue with the label loyalty.

Alex Tutor

So a new loyalty issue lands in Todo by itself. A merged pull request with Fixes #162 closes #162, and the closed issue moves to Done. The middle columns people still move by hand, or with a GitHub Actions script.

You

Unless someone writes Part of #162 instead of Fixes #162.

Daniel

Then #162 stays open, its card sits in In review, and the board is wrong until someone notices. The closing keyword now matters twice.

Alex Tutor

Question 4

At 9:15 Daniel squash-merges #166 into main. With the workflows described above, what happens on the board?

Thursday, a minute before 9:15

Show points balance in the account#166
Approved · description: "Fixes #162. Part of #147."
Show points balance in the account#162
Board: In review
Launch loyalty points before Black Friday#147
Board: In progress

Choose one answer#162 closes as completed and its card moves to Done; #147 stays in In progress#162 and #147 both move to DoneNothing: cards only move when someone drags them#162 moves to Done only when the next release is published

Alex Tutor

Thursday afternoon the team publishes v1.5.0: #156, #160, #165 and #166 since v1.4.1. Two loyalty cards are in Done, the release notes list their pull requests, and customers still see nothing.

Alex Tutor

main from v1.4.1 to v1.5.0Every loyalty commit here is merged, deployed and released in v1.5.0, and still hidden: the flag loyalty-points is on for staff only.

e5f81a3Hide loyalty menu link when flag is off (#158)v1.4.1
b2e6f10Earn points on paid orders (#156)
6e0b4d8Add issue templates (#160)
7a1d9c3Count points after discounts (#165)
c3f7a05Show points balance in the account (#166)mainv1.5.0

You

So Done on our board means merged or closed. At CatChow that also means deployed within minutes. But hidden.

Alex Tutor

Right. Whether customers can use loyalty points lives somewhere the board can't see: the flag panel. Each question has its own source of truth.

Some teams add a Released column and move cards into it on release day. We keep Done honest and make the launch a card of its own: #164, the flag switch, waits in Todo until 10 November.

Daniel

And when someone asks me "is it live?", please don't read me the board. Read production under Deployments and the flag.

You

So: the board shows the work, the pull request shows the review, the release page shows the version, and the flag shows what customers get.

Alex Tutor

Question 5

Match each question about loyalty points with the place that answers it reliably.

Tap an answer, then tap the row it belongs to. You can also drag.

Is the balance pull request approved, and are its checks green?
Which commit is running on the live site right now?
Which version first included the balance?
Can customers see their points yet?
Who is working on spending points, and is it on schedule?

Answers left to place

Alex Tutor

Now put the whole path of one piece in order. Take #163, spending points at checkout, which Daniel is building now.

Daniel

Its pull request will be #167. After review and the merge it goes into next Thursday's release, v1.6.0, still hidden.

You

And on 10 November the flag goes on for everyone. That's the moment customers can spend points.

Alex Tutor

Order the steps, from the first issue to that moment.

Alex Tutor

Question 6

Put the path of "Spend points at checkout" in order, from the issue to customers using it.

Tap an item, then tap where it should go. You can also drag or use the arrows.

You

The CEO just opened the board and messaged me: "2 of 4 sub-issues Done, so we're halfway launched?"

Alex Tutor

A fair reading of a board that wasn't built for him. The useful answer separates three things: what's built, what customers see, and what's next.

Daniel

Mention the flag. He likes knowing there's a switch we control.

Alex Tutor

Two or three sentences, as a chat reply.

Alex Tutor

Question 7Short answer · AI-checked task

The CEO writes: "Board says 2 of 4 loyalty sub-issues are Done, so we're halfway launched?" The flag loyalty-points is on for staff only. Write a 2–3 sentence reply.

Sub-issues of #147, Thursday evening

Points counted before promo discount#159
Done · in v1.5.0
Show points balance in the account#162
Done · in v1.5.0
Spend points at checkout#163
In progress · Daniel
Switch on loyalty points for all customers#164
Todo · Sofia · 10 November

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Alex Tutor

Friday. Instead of answering questions one at a time, send one weekly update, and give the CEO a view of his own that he can open any day.

You

What goes in the update? Everything on the board?

Alex Tutor

What changed this week, what's at risk, and what happens next, in the CEO's words, not the board's. Then decide which layout his view uses and what it leaves out.

Daniel

One risk from me: spending points touches checkout, so Oscar wants two full days to review #167. My target of 5 November is tight.

You

So the launch date depends on #167 landing early enough for staff testing.

Alex Tutor

Question 8Case · AI-checked task

Write Friday's status update on loyalty points for the CEO, and describe the project view you set up for him.

Project "Loyalty launch" (fields: Status with Todo / In progress / In review / Done, Priority, Target date, Iteration). Milestone "Loyalty launch", due 13 November. Black Friday: 27 November. Launch = the flag loyalty-points on for all customers, planned for Tuesday 10 November.

Done this week: #159 (points were counted before discounts; fixed by #165) and #162 (points balance in the account; #166). Both went out in v1.5.0 on Thursday. The flag is on for staff only, so customers see nothing.
In progress: #163 "Spend points at checkout" (Daniel, P1, target 5 November). Its pull request #167 isn't open yet; Oscar wants two full days to review anything that touches checkout.
In progress: #157 "Write loyalty programme page" (Emma, draft).
Todo: #164 "Switch on loyalty points for all customers" (Sofia, 10 November).

Write the update (5–10 lines) and describe the CEO's view: which layout, which items (filter), what it shows, and what you deliberately leave out.

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That's a project board: the same issues and pull requests arranged for planning, moved partly by people and partly by workflows, with a view for each reader.

You

And whatever the board says, it tracks the team's work. What customers get, I check in Deployments and the flag panel.

Daniel

Next week is my checkout piece. And by the way, the delivery page has had a typo for months. Support forwarded it again this morning.

Alex Tutor

Then next lesson that typo is yours: from the first click in the browser to the live site, and how to undo it if you need to.

Alex Tutor

That’s the lesson. You answered every task — nicely done.

Next lesson: Your first change in the browser, and how to undo it