This GitLab Project Management Workshop explores the platform’s “single platform” approach, streamlining software development workflows. It details the organizational hierarchy: groups, subgroups, and projects – alongside work items like epics and issues. Participants learned to track progress using roadmaps, milestones, and iterations for Agile management [11:52].
The session highlighted advanced AI capabilities with GitLab Duo for generating descriptions and summaries [46:47].
Key technical features include GLQL for dynamic dashboards and Service Desk for external feedback integration [01:47:07].
Through practical labs, attendees configured labels and boards to manage real-time tasks.
Finally, the workshop showcased analytics via DORA metrics, emphasizing data-driven retrospectives to improve team productivity [02:10:13].
Register here to receive the recording via email:
For your convenience, we have added captions and timestamps.
Workshop Agenda, Chapters and Timeline:
- [00:01] Introduction to GitLab An overview of GitLab’s “Single Platform” approach and how it simplifies software development compared to using multiple disconnected tools.
- [06:20] Organization Theory: Groups, Subgroups, & Projects Explaining the hierarchy of GitLab and how to align it with your business unit or organizational structure.
- [08:28] Defining Work Items (Epics, Issues, & Tasks) A breakdown of how to structure work, from high-level capabilities (Epics) down to specific user stories (Issues) and technical steps (Tasks).
- [10:01] Tracking Work: Roadmaps, Milestones, & Iterations Explanation of time-boxed tracking, including Agile sprint management (Iterations) and major product releases (Milestones).
- [13:35] Development Workflow & Roles Distinguishing between planning and development, covering Merge Requests, CI/CD, and the specific “Planner” role for project managers.
- [17:25] Hands-on: Creating Your Environment Step-by-step instructions on creating a subgroup and importing a project to begin the practical exercises.
- [29:31] Hands-on: Labels & Issue Boards How to create scoped labels (e.g.,
workflow::planning) and set up Issue Boards to visualize progress. - [37:19] Hands-on: Setting Up Milestones Creating a migration milestone with specific start and due dates to track overall project progress.
- [44:41] Hands-on: Creating Issues with GitLab Duo (AI) Demonstrating how to use GitLab Duo to generate issue descriptions and project skeletons using natural language.
- [56:24] Managing Issues on Boards Practical exercise in moving issues through different workflow stages on the board and observing label changes.
- [01:05:54] Portfolio Planning: Epics & Sub-epics Hands-on creation of high-level portfolios and nesting child epics to manage complex features.
- [01:18:57] Iteration Cadence (Sprints) Setting up automated sprint cycles and assigning work to specific iterations for granular tracking.
- [01:35:11] GitLab Query Language (GLQL) & Project Wikis Using GLQL to create dynamic, “living” documentation and dashboards within GitLab Wikis.
- [01:58:01] GitLab Service Desk Configuring an integrated email-to-issue feedback loop to collect and manage external customer feedback.
- [02:08:52] Analytics & Conclusion Overview of DORA metrics and Value Stream analytics to measure team performance and identify bottlenecks.
- [02:12:32] Live Q&A Session Final questions regarding AI substitution in workflows and advanced GLQL queries.
ALM Toolbox has assisted hundreds of clients in selecting the appropriate GitLab edition, license and in planning the product’s implementation, GitLab support deployment.
We have been official partners of GitLab since 2016 and hold titles awarded by GitLab company:
“Selected Partner”, “GitLab Hero” and “GitLab Champion” as well as official professional GitLab certifications after passing qualification exams.
Recently, we were also selected by the research firm STKI as the “GitLab Selected Partner” for 2025.
You can contact us by email at gitlab@almtoolbox.com or call us:
866-503-1471 (USA / Canada) or +31 85 064 4633 (International)
