Scrum with GitHub Projects
For teams running Scrum, or something Scrum-ish, with their code on GitHub. Three written guides to start with, then fifteen short demos in the order you'd actually use them.
GitHub Projects has gotten good enough to run a real Scrum team on, and if your code is already on GitHub it's the obvious place for the backlog and the Sprint to live too. The catch is that GitHub doesn't tell you how. It gives you items, fields, views and sub-issues and leaves the Scrum part to you.
That's what this page is for. The three posts are the written version: what a Scrum backlog looks like in GitHub Projects and how to build one. The videos are the demos, five minutes or so each, from creating the project through Sprint Planning, the Daily Scrum and reporting. Work through them in order or jump to the one you're stuck on.
Start here: the written guide
Part 1
GitHub Projects, Part 1: Scrum with GitHub
The first post in the series on how to do Scrum with GitHub Projects: not just how to do the project management stuff, but ways to streamline your delivery process.
Part 2
GitHub Projects, Part 2: Create a Project
Part one covered the concepts. This one starts the actual demos: creating the GitHub Project the rest of the series builds on.
Part 3
GitHub Projects, Part 3: Create a Product Backlog
Creating some requirements (Product Backlog Items, PBIs) in your Product Backlog, then a tour of the columns in GitHub Projects' default Product Backlog view.
The video series
Fifteen videos, in order. Each one has a companion post with the same material in writing. The whole series is also a playlist on YouTube.
8:39
1. Scrum with GitHub Projects
January 22, 2025
Where GitHub Projects fits if you need real project management tooling and your code is already on GitHub.
3:18
2. Create Your First Project (Demo)
January 23, 2025
Creating the GitHub Project that the rest of the series builds on.
5:29
3. The Product Backlog (Demo)
January 24, 2025
A tour of the Product Backlog features, and creating the first requirements (PBIs, user stories).
7:40
4. Requirement Details, Markdown, and Estimates (Demo)
January 27, 2025
Editing a requirement's details, formatting the description with Markdown, and a discussion of estimates and sizing.
4:08
5. Prioritizing Your Backlog (Demo)
January 28, 2025
Ordering a Scrum product backlog in GitHub Projects.
3:45
6. Demystifying Issues vs. Draft Issues
January 29, 2025
Why new items start life as draft issues, and the decision converting them forces on you: which repository holds the real issue.
7:20
7. Converting Draft to "Real" Issues, and Issue Types (Demo)
January 30, 2025
Converting draft issues into real repository issues, keeping it all organized, and setting issue types on the requirements.
5:00
8. Sprint Planning Overview
January 31, 2025
Where we are in the overall Scrum process, then the pivot to Sprint Planning and the Sprint.
3:33
9. Sprint Planning: Creating Iterations (Demo)
February 3, 2025
The first of the Sprint Planning demos: assigning an iteration to an issue, then editing the project's list of iterations.
3:54
10. Sprint Planning: Add User Stories to the Sprint (Demo)
February 4, 2025
Pulling PBIs into the Sprint, plus the views that keep track of where everything is during the planning meeting.
4:43
11. Sprint Planning: Creating Tasks using Sub-Issues (Demo)
February 5, 2025
Breaking PBIs down into the tasks that turn them into done, working software, using sub-issues.
11:42
12. Sprint Planning: The Case of the Missing Sub-Issues (Demo)
February 6, 2025
Finding where the task sub-issues went, views that keep the Sprint organized, and noticing when there's too much work in the Sprint.
13:57
13. The Daily Scrum (Demo)
April 7, 2025
The once-a-day meeting about situational awareness: the team's progress and its delivery plan.
10:17
14. Reporting & Charts (Demo)
April 8, 2025
Monitoring a project's progress and status with GitHub Insights.
4:01
15. Custom Project Templates
June 20, 2025
Saving a customized project as a template and spinning up new projects with the same views, fields, workflows and reports.
Related
- Agile-ish: Lightweight Project Management with GitHub Projects, the slides from my VSLive Las Vegas 2026 session. Forget the framework and answer three questions: what are we going to work on, what are we working on right now, and are we on track?
When GitHub Projects runs out of answers
"When will it be done?"
GitHub Projects tracks the work. It doesn't tell you how long things take or when they'll be finished. Honest Cheetah reads your GitHub Projects board and gives you cycle time, throughput and Monte Carlo forecasts for the backlog you already have.
Coming from Azure DevOps?
The repos move in a week. The work items, Test Plans, release pipelines and the people take longer. The GitHub Readiness Assessment tells you what your migration actually involves before you commit to it.
Questions about any of this? Contact me.