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The-Strategy-Unit / People

99 human committers, 6 bots, and what the commit timestamps reveal about how GDS works.

Every commit carries an author name and email. Collapsing 612 per-repository author records by email gives 105 distinct identities - 99 people and 6 machines. Identity is keyed on email because it is the only stable key git offers; one person using both a work and a personal address will appear twice.

People

99
human committers
resolved by GitHub id, address or full name
6
automated identities
2% of all commits
8%
committed exactly once
8 people, one commit each
6
committed over 5+ years
the institutional memory

What stands out

The top 1% of committers wrote 28% of the human commits.

1 people out of 99 account for 6.1k commits. The top ten alone wrote 71%. This is the usual open-source power law, but it is worth noting in a government context: institutional knowledge is concentrated in very few hands.

8% of people committed exactly once.

8 of 99 committers made a single commit and never returned. 46% touched only one repository. A public organisation attracts drive-by contributors, and the numbers show GDS accepted them.

2.2% of commits land at the weekend.

Weekday work dominates, as you would expect from a civil-service delivery organisation with a strong stated position on sustainable pace. The residual weekend activity is concentrated in incident response and personal-time open-source work.

2% of all commits were made by machines.

430 commits come from 6 automated identities - overwhelmingly Dependabot. GOV.UK's documented policy is to auto-merge dependency upgrades where possible, and the commit history shows that policy working at scale.

70% of live repositories rest on a single person.

In 43 of the 61 live repositories with meaningful history, one individual wrote more than half of all commits. That is the ordinary shape of a large estate with many small tools, but it is worth knowing which ones - they are listed below.

Who writes the code

Top 25 committers by commit count

Humans only. Bots are charted separately below.

Tom JemmettTom Jemmett: 6.1k6.1kMatt DrayMatt Dray: 2.2k2.2kFran BartonFran Barton: 1.4k1.4kYiWen HonYiWen Hon: 1.3k1.3kRhian DaviesRhian Davies: 983983YiWen HonYiWen Hon: 925925paulseamerpaulseamer: 802802anyafergusonanyaferguson: 711711Chris BeeleyChris Beeley: 660660Craig ParyloCraig Parylo: 565565EiriniEirini: 564564ghobroghobro: 554554asegun-codasegun-cod: 487487andrw-jnsandrw-jns: 359359Lextuga007Lextuga007: 336336Ozayr MohammedOzayr Mohammed: 323323Sarah LucasSarah Lucas: 304304AndreasAndreas: 286286Dr Claire WelshDr Claire Welsh: 271271JacquelineJacqueline: 244244heather-humphreysheather-humphreys: 198198DandyOohDandyOoh: 195195Anya FergusonAnya Ferguson: 156156SarahSarah: 151151Nat-StephensonNat-Stephenson: 137137

Who they work for

Committers by email domain

A rough proxy for employment. GDS staff use gov.uk addresses; GitHub's privacy setting hides the rest, and a long tail commit from personal accounts.

GitHub private emailGitHub private email: 4242Other organisationOther organisation: 3939Personal email (gmail etc)Personal email (gmail etc): 1111UnparseableUnparseable: 77

Churn and tenure

Distinct people committing each year

Counting anyone whose active span covers that year. The shape tracks GDS headcount and the delivery peaks of the mid-2010s.

7354.836.518.2019: 21920: 142021: 182122: 132223: 312324: 502425: 732526: 5526

How long people stay

Span from first to last commit anywhere in the org.

2216.5115.50same day: 16same day< 1 mth: 10< 1 mth1-3 mth: 51-3 mth3-12 mth: 223-12 mth1-2 yr: 221-2 yr2-4 yr: 162-4 yr4-7 yr: 84-7 yr7 yr +: 07 yr +

When the work happens

Commits by hour of day

Author local time as recorded in the commit. A clean single-peak working day.

2.6k1.9k1.3k644000: 1440001: 14302: 440203: 3104: 250405: 406: 160607: 11008: 4900809: 1.7k10: 2.1k1011: 2.2k12: 1.9k1213: 1.9k14: 2.3k1415: 2.6k16: 2.4k1617: 1.5k18: 7641819: 51620: 5462021: 59122: 5342223: 239

Commits by day of week

4.8k3.6k2.4k1.2k0Sun: 246SunMon: 3.8kMonTue: 4.7kTueWed: 4.8kWedThu: 4.7kThuFri: 4.3kFriSat: 258Sat

Reading the pattern

Weekend commits account for 2.2% of all activity. The working day peaks between 10:00 and 16:00 with a visible lunch dip, and tails off sharply after 18:00 - the signature of an organisation that does not run on overtime.

Concentration of knowledge

For each live repository with more than fifty human commits, how many people it takes to account for over half of them. One is a genuine key-person risk; four or more is a healthily shared codebase. 61 repositories qualify for the measure.

Bus factor across live repositories

Fewest contributors accounting for more than half the commits.

4332.221.510.801 person: 431 person2 people: 152 people3 people: 23 people4 people: 04 people5 people: 05 people6 or more: 16 or more

Where a single person wrote most of it

Share of commits by the largest single contributor, for the most concentrated repositories.

871_health_effects_reduced_care_co871_health_effects_reduced_care_co: 100%100%CovidVaccineKnowledgeHubCovidVaccineKnowledgeHub: 100%100%aging_pop_impact_hcare_demandaging_pop_impact_hcare_demand: 100%100%hmhc_app_inputshmhc_app_inputs: 100%100%nhp_ats_backupnhp_ats_backup: 100%100%nhp_ats_tuinhp_ats_tui: 100%100%posit-connect-peopleposit-connect-people: 100%100%synthesissynthesis: 100%100%707_covid_outpatients_data_pulling707_covid_outpatients_data_pulling: 97%97%health-adjusted-agehealth-adjusted-age: 97%97%renal_evidence_maprenal_evidence_map: 96%96%bhf_chd-ethnicitybhf_chd-ethnicity: 94%94%

The machines

Top automated committers

Dependabot dominates. GOV.UK runs an in-house govuk-dependabot-merger service that auto-merges qualifying upgrade PRs, which is why bot commit volume is so high.

Quarto GHA Workflow RunnerQuarto GHA Workflow Runner: 198198dependabot[bot]dependabot[bot]: 7979copilot-swe-agent[bot]copilot-swe-agent[bot]: 6767allcontributors[bot]allcontributors[bot]: 4848github-actions[bot]github-actions[bot]: 2121Travis CI UserTravis CI User: 1717

Top 60 committers

CommitterEmail typeCommits ReposFirstLast Years
Tom Jemmettother-org6,140352019-112026-086.7
Matt Draygithub-private2,178292023-112026-082.7
Fran Bartonother-org1,401152025-012026-081.5
YiWen Honother-org1,322272023-112026-082.7
Rhian Daviespersonal983392024-042026-082.3
YiWen Honpersonal925182022-112026-083.7
paulseamerother-org802152020-112026-075.7
anyafergusonother-org71122024-062025-101.3
Chris Beeleypersonal660192020-092026-085.9
Craig Parylogithub-private56572023-042026-063.2
Eirinigithub-private564112025-052026-081.3
ghobroother-org55492024-012026-082.5
asegun-codpersonal48722022-122023-110.9
andrw-jnspersonal35962021-102025-114.1
Lextuga007other-org336142023-022026-083.5
Ozayr Mohammedother-org32382022-092026-023.4
Sarah Lucasother-org30442024-062026-062.0
Andreaspersonal28612020-092021-091.0
Dr Claire Welshgithub-private271162025-032026-081.4
Jacquelineother-org24452023-022026-083.4
heather-humphreysgithub-private19832024-082026-081.9
DandyOohgithub-private19542020-102026-035.4
Anya Fergusongithub-private15622024-062025-101.3
Sarahgithub-private15142024-062026-082.2
Nat-Stephensonother-org13722025-082026-050.8
Morgan Lucy (MLCSU)other-org12232025-072026-071.0
Tim Brockother-org11012024-032024-040.1
Victorother-org10832020-052020-120.6
andrw-jnsgithub-private9482021-102026-054.6
O-Mohammedgithub-private9492023-092026-022.4
Steven Wyattgithub-private8872021-052026-075.2
Alexander Lawlessother-org8732021-022026-045.2
Andrew Jonesother-org8622025-082026-081.0
Lucy Morganother-org7752025-072026-081.0
Jacqueline Groutgithub-private6352023-032026-063.2
Jonathan Spencergithub-private5922024-042026-062.2
Oluwasegun Apejoyegithub-private5222022-122023-110.9
ChrisBeeleygithub-private4712025-022026-071.4
Josh-Cook3other-org4722024-072025-050.9
DCEWgithub-private4412025-042026-061.2
yiwen-hunknown4442024-112026-031.4
Fikriyudingithub-private4122024-122025-040.4
Milan Wiedemannpersonal4112021-012021-020.1
fikriyudin11other-org3832024-122025-121.0
ASW-Analystother-org3712024-102025-010.3
yiwen-hgithub-private3612025-022026-071.4
The Strategy Unitother-org3422020-062021-081.1
sallyt-nhsgithub-private3452024-012026-072.4
sallyt-nhspersonal3432024-042026-072.2
ai-mindsetgithub-private3412025-052026-061.1
tomjemmettgithub-private3012025-042026-041.1
ghobroother-org2512024-012024-040.2
Victor Yugithub-private2422020-052020-120.6
matt-draygithub-private2412024-122026-071.6
StaceyCroftgithub-private2322021-012021-080.5
SarahLucas3unknown2212025-022025-070.4
AZharinovagithub-private2112021-012021-020.0
francisbartongithub-private2132025-032026-081.4
Lextuga007github-private2132026-042026-070.3
Andre-StrategyUnitother-org2032024-072026-062.0