Zenhub Glossary

Complete reference guide to Zenhub terminology and key concepts

Understanding Workspaces and Views

Workspace
Also known as: Team Workspace

A container that organizes all your project management tools for a specific team or project. Each workspace contains a single Work Tracker (the kanban board), all reporting, Timeline view, Daily Standup, My Work, and related features. When you switch workspaces in the left sidebar (like switching from "Core Team" to "Product Team"), you're switching to a completely different set of views and data. Everything you see - boards, reports, timelines - is specific to that workspace.

Work Tracker
Also known as: Board, Kanban, Kanban Board

The kanban-style board view inside a workspace that visualizes issues across pipeline columns. This is one of several views within your workspace - alongside My Work, Daily Standup, Timeline, and Reports. When people refer to "the board," they often mean either the workspace as a whole or specifically this Work Tracker view.

The workspace/view relationship: Think of your workspace as a container. Work Tracker, Timeline, Reports, My Work, and Daily Standup are different views inside that container, all showing data specific to that workspace. Switching between these views keeps you in the same workspace; switching workspaces changes everything you see.

Pipeline
Also known as: Stage, Column, Status

A customizable stage in a workspace's workflow where issues are categorized based on their status or progress. Pipelines represent the stages work moves through from start to completion, visible as vertical columns on the Work Tracker. Common pipeline names include "Backlog," "In Progress," "Review," and "Done."

Goals & Planning Panel

A hierarchical visualization tool that connects daily tasks to strategic initiatives through a configurable tree structure with real-time progress tracking across the organization. Accessible from both the Work Tracker and Timeline views, it shows how individual issues roll up to larger projects and initiatives.

Workspace Settings
Also known as: Edit Workspace

A page for editing workspace configuration including workspace name, privacy settings, issue sources, GitHub repository connections, team members, pipeline automation, Slack integration, and default estimate values. Access through the "Edit Workspace" dropdown in the left sidebar.

Planning & Execution

Sprints

Time-boxed iterations of work, commonly used in Agile development. Sprints in Zenhub can span multiple repositories but only one workspace at a time. Configure recurring sprints through "Edit Sprints" in the Edit Workspace dropdown.

Timeline
Also known as: Roadmap, Gantt chart

A high-level visual plan showing future work, including epics, releases, and dependencies. Timeline provides a hierarchy-driven gantt-style view to visualize and manage complex project progress in real time. Replaces the previous "Roadmap" feature.

Milestone

A collection of issues and pull requests grouped together with a deadline. Milestones are a GitHub feature that can span multiple workspaces but only one repository. Different from Sprints, which are Zenhub-specific.

Release

A set of changes grouped and deployed together, tracked across sprints and milestones. Use releases to coordinate feature delivery and track progress toward deployment dates. NOTE: "Zenhub Releases" are completely separate from "GitHub Releases". Zenhub Releases are a way to group issues, whereas GitHub Releases are typically tied to a specific GitHub commit which captures a point-in-time for a codebase.

Backlog

A prioritized list of work items waiting to be worked on. Issues in the backlog haven't been assigned to active sprints or moved into active development pipelines. Zenhub has a separate backlog pipeline for each Workspace.

Issue Management

Issue
Also known as: Ticket, Card, Task

A task, bug, or feature request tracked within a repository. By default, "Issue" refers to GitHub Issues unless otherwise specified as "Zenhub Issue."

GitHub Issues vs Zenhub Issues

GitHub Issues are part of GitHub and sync with your code repositories. They appear in pull requests, can be referenced in commits, and integrate with GitHub's native features. Zenhub Issues are created in Zenhub and exist independently of code repositories - useful for project management work that doesn't require code changes or for planning non-technical work. Both types can be managed in Zenhub workspaces.

Issue Types

A categorization system for organizing different types of work, allowing teams to tailor workflows to their specific needs. Configure through Account Management settings. Issue Types create a hierarchical structure for breaking down work from strategic initiatives to individual tasks. For example, issue types allow users to differentiate a "bug" from a "feature".

Sub-Issue
Also known as: Sub-task

A smaller, related issue that breaks down a larger issue into manageable tasks, tracked within a parent issue. Sub-issues create parent-child relationships that help organize complex work.

Epics

Large work items that group multiple related issues together in Zenhub, providing a high-level view of related work. Epics help organize features or initiatives that span multiple issues. In Zenhub an "Epic" is just an "Issue" which has its "Issue Type" set to "Epic".

Project

A grouping of epics that contain multiple issues, providing a strategic view of work. Not to be confused with GitHub Projects, which is a completely separate GitHub product with different functionality. In Zenhub a "Project" is just an "Issue" which has its "Issue Type" set to "Project".

Dependencies

Also known as: Issue relationships

Relationships between issues that indicate blockers or prerequisites, helping teams identify and manage work that must be completed in sequence. Issues can be "blocked by" other issues or "blocking" other issues from proceeding. NOTE: Zenhub's "Dependencies" are completely separate from GitHub's "Relationships" feature.

Labels

Also known as: Tags

Tags used to categorize issues and pull requests for filtering and organization. Zenhub includes AI Suggested Labels that automatically recommend labels based on issue content.

Assignee

The individual responsible for completing an issue or pull request. Issues can have multiple assignees when work requires collaboration.

Filters

Customizable views that refine displayed issues based on criteria like assignee, labels, sprint, issue type, repository, or custom combinations. Save frequently-used filter combinations as custom views.

Team Collaboration

My Work
Also known as: Daily Feed (individual view)

A real-time feed showing your individual activity in Zenhub, including issues assigned to you, recently completed work, and mentions. Replaces the individual view previously called "Daily Feed."

Daily Standup
Also known as: Daily Feed (team view)

A real-time feed of your team's activity in Zenhub, showing what everyone worked on recently, current assignments, and blockers. Designed for team coordination and standup meetings. Replaces the team view previously called "Daily Feed."

Today's Insights

A snapshot of work progress, including issue updates, blockers, and trends. Appears in the right sidebar within Daily Standup, providing quick metrics about sprint progress and team performance.

Reports & Analytics

Sprint Burndown
Also known as: Burndown Chart, Burndown Report, Sprint Report

A report that visualizes completed and remaining work in a sprint, showing progress toward sprint goals over time. Helps teams identify if they're on track to complete sprint commitments.

Team Velocity
Also known as: Velocity Tracking, Velocity Report

A report measuring how many story points a team completes per sprint, used for capacity planning and forecasting. Shows average velocity and rolling velocity trends over time.

Milestone Burndown
Also known as: Milestone Report

A report showing story points completed and remaining for milestones, helping teams track progress toward milestone deadlines and forecast completion dates.

Release Burnup
Also known as: Release Report, Burnup Report

A report tracking the status and progress of releases within Zenhub, showing completed work accumulating over time alongside total scope changes.

Sprint Summary
Also known as: Sprint Review

An AI-generated summary of completed and incomplete work at the end of a sprint, automatically categorizing issues by theme and providing narrative context for sprint accomplishments.

Lead / Cycle Time
Also known as: Control Chart

A report showing how long issues take from start to completion, helping identify workflow delays and process inefficiencies. Tracks completion time trends over your selected time period.

Bottleneck Tracking
Also known as: Cumulative Flow, Cumulative Flow Diagram

A visualization of work in progress and workflow stability over time, showing how issues accumulate in different pipelines. Helps identify bottlenecks where work gets stuck.

GitHub Insights

Zenhub's analytics on your team's GitHub activity, providing six key metrics on development productivity including issue completion, lead time, pull request throughput, and code review time.

Enterprise Reports

Advanced reporting features available exclusively for Zenhub Enterprise accounts, providing additional analytics and customization options beyond standard reporting.

Estimation & Priority

Estimate
Also known as: Story Points

A numerical value assigned to an issue (usually in story points) to represent effort or complexity required. Used for sprint planning, capacity management, and velocity tracking.

Priority

A ranking system in Zenhub to indicate the importance of an issue or epic. High-priority issues can be pinned to the top of pipeline columns for visibility. At the moment Zenhub only supports two priority values: Regular and High.

Predicted Sprints

A Zenhub feature that forecasts which sprint an issue will likely be completed in, based on historical velocity and current sprint capacity. Helps with long-term planning and commitment management.

GitHub Integration

Repository
Also known as: Repo

A storage space for a project in GitHub, containing files, folders, and version history. Zenhub connects to GitHub repositories and also creates a Zenhub Repository for each workspace to store Zenhub Issues.

Pull Request
Also known as: PR

A request to merge code changes from one branch to another, typically reviewed before merging. Pull requests can be tracked on Zenhub boards and connected to issues.

PR Reviewers

Individuals assigned to review a pull request before merging, ensuring code quality and catching potential issues before changes enter the main codebase.

Magic Keywords
Also known as: Closing Keywords

Specific phrases like "Fixes #123," "Closes #456," or "Resolves #789" used in commit messages or pull request descriptions to automatically close linked issues when the PR is merged.

GitHub Organization
Also known as: Org, Organization

A way to manage multiple repositories, members, and permissions under a single entity in GitHub. Zenhub organizations can connect to one or more GitHub organizations to access repositories and team data.

GitHub Enterprise

A self-hosted or cloud-based version of GitHub for organizations requiring advanced security, compliance, and administrative features.

Workflows & Automation

Workflows

Also known as: Pipeline Automation, Cross-workspace automation

Automated sequences that move issues between different workspaces based on pipeline changes. For example, when an issue moves to "Ready for QA" in the Development workspace, a workflow can automatically move it to "QA Backlog" in the QA workspace.

Display Options & Settings

Condensed View

A compact display mode for viewing more issue cards at once on the Work Tracker, reducing card height to fit more information on screen.

Multi Column Pipelines

A Zenhub feature allowing multiple columns within a single pipeline for better organization and visual grouping of related work.

Saved Views

Saved filter combinations that let you quickly switch between different perspectives on your Work Tracker. Create custom views for common scenarios like "My current sprint work" or "High priority backend issues."

Common Confusion & Key Distinctions

Workspace vs Work Tracker

A Workspace is the container holding all your team's project management tools. The Work Tracker is the kanban board view inside that workspace. When people say "my board," they might mean the entire workspace or specifically the Work Tracker view - context clarifies which. In Zenhub one workspace has one board. To create additional boards a user can either create different "saved views" in the workspace, or create additional workspaces.

Zenhub Projects vs GitHub Projects

Completely separate features. Zenhub Projects are Level 2 in the Issue Types hierarchy (Initiative → Project → Epic → Issue → Sub-task), representing major work initiatives. GitHub Projects is GitHub's own separate task management tool using spreadsheet or board layouts. Always confirm which someone means when they mention "projects."

Milestones vs Sprints

Milestones are a GitHub feature that span multiple Zenhub workspaces but only one repository. Sprints are a Zenhub feature that span multiple repositories but only one workspace. Both are time-based groupings but with different scoping. In general Zenhub recommends using Sprints over Milestones unless deep GitHub data integration is an absolute must.

GitHub Issues vs Zenhub Issues

GitHub Issues integrate with code repositories and appear in pull requests. Zenhub Issues exist independently in Zenhub for project management work without code. Both can coexist in the same workspace.

Board vs Swimlane vs Pipeline

"Board" usually refers to the Work Tracker view. "Pipeline" is the correct term for the vertical columns in that view. "Swimlane" is sometimes incorrectly used to mean pipeline due to visual similarity, but they're technically different concepts. If a user ever mentions "swimlane" ask them to confirm whether or not their mean a "column on their board".

Epic Points vs Story Points

Epic Points were deprecated when Zenhub introduced Issue Types. Now all work uses Story Points for estimation, regardless of hierarchy level.