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ukaea / People

265 human committers, 1 bots, and what the commit timestamps reveal about how GDS works.

Every commit carries an author name and email. Collapsing 721 per-repository author records by email gives 266 distinct identities - 265 people and 1 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

265
human committers
resolved by GitHub id, address or full name
1
automated identities
3% of all commits
15%
committed exactly once
39 people, one commit each
13
committed over 5+ years
the institutional memory

What stands out

The top 1% of committers wrote 20% of the human commits.

2 people out of 265 account for 7.7k commits. The top ten alone wrote 48%. 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.

15% of people committed exactly once.

39 of 265 committers made a single commit and never returned. 66% touched only one repository. A public organisation attracts drive-by contributors, and the numbers show GDS accepted them.

4.2% 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.

3% of all commits were made by machines.

1.3k commits come from 1 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.

55% of live repositories rest on a single person.

In 21 of the 38 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.

mn3981mn3981: 4.5k4.5kJonathan ShimwellJonathan Shimwell: 3.2k3.2kAndré NetoAndré Neto: 2k2kSamuel JacksonSamuel Jackson: 1.8k1.8kbillingsley-johnbillingsley-john: 1.5k1.5kJonathan HollocombeJonathan Hollocombe: 1.2k1.2kOliver TarrantOliver Tarrant: 1k1kTimothy NunnTimothy Nunn: 928928David FridrichDavid Fridrich: 922922MattMatt: 857857abdullah-ukaeaabdullah-ukaea: 679679Clair MouldClair Mould: 648648RemDelaporteMathurinRemDelaporteMathurin: 645645pheestpheest: 644644sdixonsdixon: 613613SMijinSMijin: 600600Robert CleggRobert Clegg: 595595Adam ParkerAdam Parker: 580580gferrogferro: 574574khalidkhalid: 568568Christopher AsheChristopher Ashe: 539539Ivan Herrero MolinaIvan Herrero Molina: 529529autopep8autopep8: 506506Giuseppe AvonGiuseppe Avon: 466466f-rfxf-rfx: 440440

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.

Other organisationOther organisation: 144144GitHub private emailGitHub private email: 6767Personal email (gmail etc)Personal email (gmail etc): 3535Misconfigured (.local etc)Misconfigured (.local etc): 1818UnparseableUnparseable: 11

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.

10981.854.527.2013: 11314: 31415: 121516: 211617: 281718: 491819: 561920: 662021: 942122: 542223: 742324: 772425: 1092526: 9126

How long people stay

Span from first to last commit anywhere in the org.

5742.828.514.20same day: 57same day< 1 mth: 36< 1 mth1-3 mth: 181-3 mth3-12 mth: 383-12 mth1-2 yr: 471-2 yr2-4 yr: 502-4 yr4-7 yr: 154-7 yr7 yr +: 47 yr +

When the work happens

Commits by hour of day

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

4.2k3.2k2.1k1.1k000: 5850001: 27002: 910203: 4604: 310405: 1506: 1330607: 41708: 1.4k0809: 2.7k10: 3.7k1011: 4.2k12: 2.3k1213: 3.1k14: 4k1415: 4.2k16: 4k1617: 3k18: 1.8k1819: 85120: 6132021: 66122: 6352223: 518

Commits by day of week

7.8k5.8k3.9k1.9k0Sun: 857SunMon: 7.8kMonTue: 7.7kTueWed: 7.7kWedThu: 7.8kThuFri: 6.7kFriSat: 798Sat

Reading the pattern

Weekend commits account for 4.2% 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. 38 repositories qualify for the measure.

Bus factor across live repositories

Fewest contributors accounting for more than half the commits.

2115.810.55.201 person: 211 person2 people: 102 people3 people: 53 people4 people: 24 people5 people: 05 people6 or more: 06 or more

Where a single person wrote most of it

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

overlap_checkeroverlap_checker: 95%95%fusion-product-samplingfusion-product-sampling: 93%93%bom_analysisbom_analysis: 90%90%breeder_blanket_model_makerbreeder_blanket_model_maker: 84%84%IMAS_JET_mappingsIMAS_JET_mappings: 83%83%IMAS_MASTU_mappingsIMAS_MASTU_mappings: 81%81%MARTe2-pythonMARTe2-python: 80%80%hdchdc: 74%74%ALC_UQALC_UQ: 74%74%PyVMCONPyVMCON: 66%66%CLOCKCLOCK: 65%65%parallel-preprocessorparallel-preprocessor: 63%63%

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.

dependabot[bot]dependabot[bot]: 1.3k1.3k

Top 60 committers

CommitterEmail typeCommits ReposFirstLast Years
mn3981other-org4,46612023-092026-083.0
Jonathan Shimwellother-org3,21452018-012021-093.7
André Netoother-org2,01322015-062023-108.3
Samuel Jacksonother-org1,75762023-022026-083.6
billingsley-johnpersonal1,51832019-112021-091.9
Jonathan Hollocombeother-org1,20172017-012026-089.6
Oliver Tarrantother-org1,04222018-112019-050.5
Timothy Nunnother-org92832022-072026-084.1
David Fridrichother-org92212016-042022-096.4
Mattother-org85722024-022026-082.5
abdullah-ukaeaother-org67922025-042026-081.3
Clair Mouldgithub-private64812023-092026-083.0
RemDelaporteMathurinother-org64512020-072021-091.2
pheestother-org64412013-122014-121.0
sdixonother-org61362021-102026-064.7
SMijinother-org60032023-062025-112.4
Robert Cleggother-org59522018-102019-050.5
Adam Parkerother-org580132022-092026-084.0
gferroother-org57412015-072016-081.1
khalidpersonal56832024-092026-071.9
Christopher Ashegithub-private53912023-102026-082.9
Ivan Herrero Molinaother-org52922015-062017-031.8
autopep8github-private50622020-082021-091.1
Giuseppe Avonother-org46622020-102023-052.6
f-rfxgithub-private44022020-052020-070.1
Didacpersonal43122020-032020-050.2
Kristian Zarębskiother-org42622022-022026-084.5
nferronother-org41322020-042021-020.8
Timothygithub-private35832023-042026-083.4
Your GitHub Usernameother-org35032022-112025-092.9
shimwellpersonal33942019-112020-060.6
Heesterman, Peter Jpersonal32032016-012026-0810.6
ym1906other-org31512023-072026-083.1
pheestother-org31212014-122016-081.7
Kristian Zarębskigithub-private30822022-022026-084.5
jamesgithub-private30732023-072026-083.1
Nathan Cummingsother-org28262022-072026-074.0
Dr. CI Botmisconfigured27812025-092026-081.0
Jakub Urbanpersonal21812016-052019-093.3
BDevTgithub-private20732024-052026-082.2
Sam Masonother-org20112021-082023-082.0
Josh Blakeother-org19512024-122026-081.7
Jonathan Maddockgithub-private18822023-042026-083.3
Martino Ferrariother-org16932021-022025-014.0
Sid Leighother-org16622024-052026-082.3
oceanpersonal16312025-012026-081.6
LariDGother-org15252024-102026-081.9
LF218007other-org14112017-022019-011.9
Daniel Brennandpersonal13622025-042026-061.2
Llorenç Capellàother-org12022015-072018-083.1
Jackother-org12012023-102026-082.8
Edward Jonesother-org11872022-022026-084.6
apearceother-org11812024-012026-082.5
Khalid Lawal Abiolagithub-private11532024-092026-071.9
Mattipersonal11132018-032026-068.3
P-S-S-Mother-org10912022-072022-080.1
Stan Pamelapersonal10612020-032021-111.7
Giuseppe Ferròother-org10412015-062016-020.7
filippo sartoriother-org9912015-072016-091.1
Pedro Lourencoother-org9822021-012022-091.7