Code with Goals: Gitlab — Issue Tracking and the Kanban System, Automating Project Management, Surfacing goals and Building Confidence.
The essence of Git is in its decentralised development model, but a shared code repository platform can reduce time used for communication and coordination among team members. Gitlab and Github are software that does this. They both have similar features. The main difference is that Gitlab allows for private instances.
This article will use Gitlab to introduce two concepts: Issue Tracking and the Kanban System. The point is to maintain team discipline, surface problems as soon as possible (a.k.a. fail fast), and highlight the personal and team contributions to motivate the team. Your team does not have to be Agile to use these concepts.
Issue Tracking
Software development issues are typically split into three categories: Features, Bugs and Enhancements (improvement suggestions). You can track and raise issues through the issue tracker.
You can link issue with other issues, and use Merge Requests to link issues with code for future retrospection. Labels can be used to categorise issues while other metadata such as the person in charge, and the due date can also be added to the issue.
Templates can also be used with issues to do something akin to ISO standards management and improve issue description.
Kanban System
A lot of time and energy is wasted in progress updates and communication between the product, development and testing team. The Kanban system can allow people to immediately find the person in charge for problems they are interested in, and developers no long need to do complicated progress updates. It also presents a simple and easy visual to the manager about your contributions to the project.
You can find more information about the issue in the Kanban as well.
