10 min read • Guide 738 of 877
Setting Up GitScrum for Your Team
A well-configured workspace sets your team up for success. This guide walks through the essential setup steps to get your team running smoothly with GitScrum.
Initial Setup
Quick Start Checklist
GITSCRUM SETUP STEPS:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ PHASE 1: ACCOUNT & WORKSPACE (5 min) │
│ ☐ Create organization account │
│ ☐ Set organization name and URL │
│ ☐ Choose plan │
│ │
│ PHASE 2: FIRST PROJECT (10 min) │
│ ☐ Create project │
│ ☐ Choose template (or start blank) │
│ ☐ Set up board columns │
│ ☐ Configure basic labels │
│ │
│ PHASE 3: TEAM (10 min) │
│ ☐ Invite team members │
│ ☐ Set roles and permissions │
│ ☐ Configure notification preferences │
│ │
│ PHASE 4: FIRST SPRINT (10 min) │
│ ☐ Create initial backlog items │
│ ☐ Set sprint duration │
│ ☐ Start first sprint │
│ │
│ TOTAL: ~35 minutes to first sprint │
│ │
│ SKIP FOR NOW: │
│ • Advanced integrations │
│ • Custom fields │
│ • Automation rules │
│ → Add these as needs emerge │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Project Configuration
PROJECT SETUP:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ PROJECT DETAILS: │
│ │
│ Name: Clear and distinctive │
│ • "Mobile App - iOS" │
│ • "Platform Core" │
│ • NOT "Project 1" │
│ │
│ Key: Short prefix for task IDs │
│ • "IOS" → IOS-123 │
│ • "CORE" → CORE-456 │
│ • 2-5 characters │
│ │
│ Description: What and why │
│ • What is this project? │
│ • What's the goal? │
│ • Who's involved? │
│ │
│ VISIBILITY: │
│ Private: Only members can see │
│ Internal: All org members can view │
│ Public: Anyone can view (rare) │
│ │
│ DEFAULT SETTINGS: │
│ • Sprint duration: 2 weeks (most common) │
│ • Story points: Fibonacci (1,2,3,5,8,13) │
│ • Time tracking: Enable if team wants │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Board Configuration
Column Setup
KANBAN BOARD COLUMNS:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ BASIC SETUP (Start here): │
│ │
│ ┌─────────┬──────────────┬──────────┬─────────┐ │
│ │ Backlog │ In Progress │ Review │ Done │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ (todo) │ (doing) │ (doing) │ (done) │ │
│ └─────────┴──────────────┴──────────┴─────────┘ │
│ │
│ ADVANCED SETUP (Add later if needed): │
│ │
│ ┌────────┬──────────┬─────────┬────────┬────────┬────────┐│
│ │Backlog │ Selected │ Dev │ Review │ QA │ Done ││
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ ││
│ │ │ WIP: 3 │ WIP: 5 │ WIP: 2 │ WIP: 3 │ ││
│ └────────┴──────────┴─────────┴────────┴────────┴────────┘│
│ │
│ COLUMN SETTINGS: │
│ │
│ WIP Limits: │
│ • Set per column │
│ • Highlight when exceeded │
│ • Helps identify bottlenecks │
│ │
│ Auto-transitions: │
│ • PR created → In Review │
│ • PR merged → Done │
│ │
│ AVOID: │
│ • Too many columns (5-7 max) │
│ • Columns no one uses │
│ • Ambiguous column names │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Labels
LABEL CONFIGURATION:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ TYPE LABELS: │
│ 🟢 feature New functionality │
│ 🔴 bug Something broken │
│ 🔵 improvement Enhance existing │
│ 🟡 chore Maintenance work │
│ 🟣 docs Documentation │
│ │
│ PRIORITY LABELS: │
│ 🔴 critical Drop everything │
│ 🟠 high This sprint │
│ 🟡 medium Soon │
│ 🟢 low When possible │
│ │
│ AREA LABELS: │
│ • frontend │
│ • backend │
│ • mobile │
│ • infrastructure │
│ │
│ STATUS LABELS: │
│ • blocked │
│ • needs-review │
│ • needs-design │
│ │
│ TIPS: │
│ • Use colors consistently │
│ • Keep labels minimal (add as needed) │
│ • Review and prune quarterly │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Team Setup
Inviting Members
TEAM MEMBER SETUP:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ ROLES: │
│ │
│ Admin: │
│ • Full access to everything │
│ • Manage organization settings │
│ • Invite/remove members │
│ • Delete projects │
│ Who: Team lead, engineering manager │
│ │
│ Member: │
│ • Create and edit tasks │
│ • Manage sprints │
│ • Access assigned projects │
│ Who: Developers, designers, QA │
│ │
│ Viewer: │
│ • View-only access │
│ • Can comment │
│ • Cannot edit │
│ Who: Stakeholders, occasional reviewers │
│ │
│ INVITATION: │
│ │
│ 1. Go to Team → Invite Members │
│ 2. Enter email addresses │
│ 3. Select role │
│ 4. Assign to projects │
│ 5. Send invitations │
│ │
│ BEST PRACTICES: │
│ • Least privilege - start with Member │
│ • Few Admins - 1-2 per team │
│ • Review access quarterly │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Notification Settings
NOTIFICATION CONFIGURATION:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ DEFAULT NOTIFICATIONS (Recommended): │
│ │
│ ALWAYS NOTIFY: │
│ ☑ Assigned to you │
│ ☑ Mentioned in comment │
│ ☑ Task you're watching updated │
│ ☑ Sprint started/ended │
│ │
│ OPTIONAL (Team preference): │
│ ☐ Task status changed │
│ ☐ Comment on any sprint task │
│ ☐ New task created │
│ ☐ Daily digest │
│ │
│ CHANNEL PREFERENCES: │
│ │
│ In-app: ☑ All notifications │
│ Email: ☑ Assigned/mentioned only │
│ Slack: ☑ Critical only │
│ │
│ QUIET HOURS: │
│ No notifications: 8pm - 8am │
│ Weekend notifications: Off │
│ │
│ ANTI-PATTERN: │
│ ❌ All notifications everywhere = notification fatigue │
│ ❌ No notifications = miss important updates │
│ ✅ Right notifications to right channel = focused │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Sprint Configuration
Sprint Settings
SPRINT SETUP:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ DURATION: │
│ │
│ 1 week: │
│ • Good for: Fast-moving startups, urgent projects │
│ • Risk: High ceremony overhead, less deep work │
│ │
│ 2 weeks: (Recommended) │
│ • Good for: Most teams, balanced rhythm │
│ • Risk: None significant │
│ │
│ 3-4 weeks: │
│ • Good for: Research-heavy, complex projects │
│ • Risk: Late feedback, harder to estimate │
│ │
│ SPRINT SCHEDULE: │
│ │
│ Sprint Start: Monday (most common) │
│ Sprint End: Friday (wrap up week) │
│ │
│ CEREMONIES (Example 2-week sprint): │
│ │
│ Day 1 (Mon): Planning (2 hrs) │
│ Daily: Standup (15 min) │
│ Day 10 (Fri): Demo (1 hr) + Retro (1 hr) │
│ │
│ AUTO-CLOSE SETTINGS: │
│ ☐ Auto-move incomplete to next sprint │
│ ☐ Require all tasks done before close │
│ ☑ Allow incomplete tasks (review in planning) │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Backlog Setup
INITIAL BACKLOG:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ POPULATING YOUR BACKLOG: │
│ │
│ 1. BRAIN DUMP │
│ • Everything the team knows needs doing │
│ • Don't filter yet │
│ • Quick entries, refine later │
│ │
│ 2. STRUCTURE │
│ • Group into epics/themes │
│ • Add labels │
│ • Rough priority order │
│ │
│ 3. REFINE TOP ITEMS │
│ • Detail for first 2-3 sprints │
│ • Clear acceptance criteria │
│ • Estimate if using points │
│ │
│ BACKLOG HEALTH: │
│ │
│ ✅ Top 20% is detailed and ready │
│ ✅ Middle 30% has enough context │
│ ✅ Bottom 50% is rough ideas (that's fine) │
│ │
│ AVOID: │
│ ❌ Trying to detail entire backlog upfront │
│ ❌ Giant backlog with hundreds of items │
│ ❌ Stale items that will never be done │
│ │
│ MAINTENANCE: │
│ • Weekly refinement session │
│ • Quarterly backlog cleanup │
│ • Delete or archive old items │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Integrations
Essential Integrations
INTEGRATION PRIORITY:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ HIGH PRIORITY (Set up first): │
│ │
│ Git Integration: │
│ • Link commits to tasks │
│ • Auto-update on PR merge │
│ • Branch names from task IDs │
│ │
│ Communication: │
│ • Slack/Teams notifications │
│ • @mention linking │
│ • Channel per project optional │
│ │
│ MEDIUM PRIORITY (Add when needed): │
│ │
│ CI/CD: │
│ • Link builds to tasks │
│ • Deployment tracking │
│ │
│ Calendar: │
│ • Sync sprint dates │
│ • Ceremony reminders │
│ │
│ LOWER PRIORITY (Optimization): │
│ │
│ Time tracking: │
│ • If team uses it │
│ │
│ Design tools: │
│ • Figma/Sketch links │
│ │
│ Documentation: │
│ • Notion/Confluence linking │
│ │
│ START SIMPLE: │
│ Add integrations as pain points emerge │
│ Don't over-integrate upfront │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Team Onboarding
Onboarding Checklist
NEW MEMBER ONBOARDING:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ DAY 1: │
│ ☐ Account created and logged in │
│ ☐ Added to correct project(s) │
│ ☐ Notification preferences set │
│ ☐ Quick tour of board and backlog │
│ │
│ WEEK 1: │
│ ☐ Assigned first task (small, clear) │
│ ☐ Participated in standup │
│ ☐ Made first status update │
│ ☐ Asked questions in comments │
│ │
│ MONTH 1: │
│ ☐ Participated in full sprint cycle │
│ ☐ Familiar with workflow │
│ ☐ Using all relevant features │
│ ☐ Comfortable with team process │
│ │
│ RESOURCES: │
│ • GitScrum documentation │
│ • Team-specific process doc │
│ • Point person for questions │
│ │
│ AVOID: │
│ ❌ Information overload on day 1 │
│ ❌ No guidance, figure it out yourself │
│ ✅ Gradual introduction, available support │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘