Streamlining GitHub Projects: Filtering and Favoriting for Enhanced Software Planning
As organizations increasingly rely on GitHub Projects for their project management needs, the demand for more robust navigation and organization features is growing. A recent discussion in the GitHub Community highlights a common pain point for teams transitioning from other platforms like Azure DevOps: managing a rapidly expanding list of projects.
The Challenge: Navigating a Growing Sea of Projects
Agazoth initiated a discussion, articulating a significant challenge faced by many large organizations. With numerous projects kept open for cross-organizational information sharing, the project list becomes unwieldy. The core problem? GitHub's current filtering capabilities for organization projects are limited, primarily allowing filtering only by creator:USERNAME. This makes it incredibly difficult for team members to quickly find projects they collaborate on but didn't personally create. Furthermore, the absence of a 'star' or 'favorite' feature means there's no quick way to bookmark frequently accessed projects, directly impacting efficient software planning and daily workflow.
Proposed Solutions: Enhancing Project Discoverability
To address these limitations and significantly improve project navigation, Agazoth proposed two key features:
- Expanded Filtering Options: Introduce new filters such as
member:USERNAMEorcollaborator:USERNAME. These would allow users to easily view only the projects they are actively involved in, cutting through the noise of organization-wide project lists. - 'Star' or 'Favorite' Projects: Implement a mechanism similar to repository stars, enabling users to mark specific projects for quick access. This would provide a personalized shortcut to essential projects, drastically reducing search time.
The underlying use case is clear: in organizations with hundreds of projects, members need to swiftly pinpoint the subset of projects relevant to their active work. This directly impacts individual productivity and the overall efficiency of team-wide software planning.
Community Workarounds: Practical Tips While We Wait
While GitHub's product teams review this valuable feedback, community member dotsystemsdevs offered several practical workarounds for teams grappling with these issues:
- The "Search" Trick: Leverage the organization's Project page search bar by using keywords. If your team adopts a consistent naming convention, such as a team prefix (e.g.,
[TEAM-A]), searching for this prefix can be much faster than endless scrolling. - Browser Bookmarks Folder: An old-school but highly effective method is to create a dedicated browser bookmarks folder for frequently accessed GitHub Projects. This provides instant access to projects you don't own.
- Dashboard View via Repository: If projects are directly linked to specific repositories, accessing them through the 'Projects' tab of that particular repository often presents a much shorter, more relevant list than the sprawling organization-wide view.
These temporary solutions can help teams maintain some level of organizational clarity and track their development kpi even without native 'favorite' features.
The Impact on Developer Productivity and Software Planning
The discussion underscores a critical need for features that enhance project visibility and accessibility. Improved filtering and favoriting capabilities are not just conveniences; they are essential tools for optimizing software planning, boosting developer productivity, and ultimately, improving performance metrics for software development. As GitHub Projects continues to evolve, incorporating such user-centric features will be key to supporting large-scale enterprise adoption and ensuring a seamless, efficient experience for all developers.