Planning and Project Management
Planning and Project Management
This domain tests how GitLab turns work into trackable items: issues, labels, milestones, boards, epics, and iterations. The exam focuses on choosing the right planning object and configuring it so status rolls up correctly.
Core objects
- An issue is the unit of work. It carries a title, description, assignee(s), labels, milestone, due date, weight, and comments.
- Labels classify issues and merge requests. Scoped labels use a double colon, such as
workflow::in progress. Only one label per scope can be applied at a time, soworkflow::in progressreplacesworkflow::reviewwhen dragged across a board. - Milestones are time-boxed groupings, usually for a release or sprint. They can be project-level or group-level and support burndown/burnup charts.
- Issue boards show lists as columns. Moving a card between columns changes the issue's label. Boards can be scoped by milestone, assignee, or weight; group boards aggregate projects.
- Epics (Premium and above) group issues and child epics at group level; roadmaps visualize epics over time. Iterations provide a cadence-based timebox.
Worked example
A team wants a board with columns Backlog, In progress, Review, Done. Create four scoped labels workflow::backlog, workflow::in progress, workflow::review, workflow::done, then create board lists from those labels. Dragging a card from In progress to Review removes the in-progress label and applies review because the labels share the workflow scope. The reasoning: scoped labels enforce one status at a time, so the board reflects the current state without manual cleanup.
Traps that cost marks
Plain labels do not replace each other, so an issue can end up with both in progress and done. Milestones are not the same as iterations: milestones are manually scoped, iterations follow a cadence. A board list based on assignee or milestone does not change workflow status; use label-based lists for status columns. Group boards do not automatically include all projects unless the projects are in the group. Weight is relative effort, not time.
Key planning checks
Use group labels for consistency across projects; use project labels for local needs. Filter boards rather than creating duplicate boards for every slice. Keep epics for cross-project themes, not individual tasks.