Collaborating with GitHub

What is GitHub? Basic introduction

YiWen Hon

2025-11-06

What the heck is GitHub anyway?

a web-based platform that … combines Git, a powerful version control system, with features that facilitate collaborative work and project management.

• “Version control”: like Track Changes in Microsoft Office
• “Features”: will become clearer in today’s session.

Free to create an account - we can add you to the Strategy Unit organisation on GitHub¹

Note that other Git hosts are available, like GitLab and Bitbucket - but we’re focusing on GitHub because that’s what we use at the Strategy Unit

1. Note that some of the examples in this presentation are in private repositories, which you can only see if you are a member of this organisation on GitHub and are logged in

Basic GitHub functionality: Repositories

• What is a Git repository? 📁

A folder with advanced version control, which you can backup online and share with others. Can contain code or other types of files.

• Examples of repositories:
  • nhp_model: Very code-intensive
  • RAP_Drop_In: No code

🔒 Repositories can be public or private - but you should never ever EVER put any sensitive data in them, even if private!

Basic GitHub functionality: Issues

You can add issues to a repository. Examples of how we’ve used issues to collaborate:

nhp_project_information #218

• Assigning people to issues
• Having conversations and an audit trail
• Referencing other issues or specific individuals
• Labels to help organise issues

renal-capacity-model #21

• Using subissues to help break tasks down

RAP_Drop_In checklist

• Create “issue templates” for repetitive tasks/checklists

Fancier GitHub functionality: Projects

• Like Trello, Asana, Monday, or Microsoft Planner - allows you to manage many issues in one place.
• Quite flexible: See how we use different views in the Sprint Planner for our workload management.
• Can also be used for non-coding task management: Coffee and Coding Planner

Sounds great! How do I get started?

• Register for a GitHub account and let a member of the DS team know your username, so you can be added to the Strategy Unit organisation
• Start playing around!