UK Public Sector GitHub Observatory
← all organisations

uktrade / People

292 human committers, 4 bots, and what the commit timestamps reveal about how GDS works.

Every commit carries an author name and email. Collapsing 1,093 per-repository author records by email gives 296 distinct identities - 292 people and 4 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

292
human committers
resolved by GitHub id, address or full name
4
automated identities
7% of all commits
15%
committed exactly once
45 people, one commit each
6
committed over 5+ years
the institutional memory

What stands out

The top 1% of committers wrote 12% of the human commits.

2 people out of 292 account for 3.7k commits. The top ten alone wrote 40%. 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.

45 of 292 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.

4.6% 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.

7% of all commits were made by machines.

2.5k commits come from 4 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.

44% of live repositories rest on a single person.

In 8 of the 18 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.

Will LangdaleWill Langdale: 2k2kWill GibsonWill Gibson: 1.7k1.7kKate SugdenKate Sugden: 1.5k1.5kMichal CharemzaMichal Charemza: 1.3k1.3kLeonardo MazzoneLeonardo Mazzone: 1.2k1.2kTony GriffinTony Griffin: 1.1k1.1kJohn StainsbyJohn Stainsby: 1.1k1.1kAnthony RoyAnthony Roy: 1.1k1.1kGabriel NaughtonGabriel Naughton: 1k1krichtierrichtier: 934934Saisakul ChernbumroongSaisakul Chernbumroong: 832832George BurtonGeorge Burton: 769769eadpearceeadpearce: 736736Natasha BoyseNatasha Boyse: 733733Dragos StoianDragos Stoian: 733733Harry WixleyHarry Wixley: 711711Anthoni GleesonAnthoni Gleeson: 695695kowalcj0kowalcj0: 541541elliot.mooreelliot.moore: 536536Chris HopkinsChris Hopkins: 520520David OkekeDavid Okeke: 500500Simon BrunningSimon Brunning: 470470Tash BoyseTash Boyse: 461461Konrad KorżelKonrad Korżel: 446446Liam WilkinsonLiam Wilkinson: 378378

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.

gov.uk addressgov.uk address: 121121GitHub private emailGitHub private email: 7474Other organisationOther organisation: 4949Personal email (gmail etc)Personal email (gmail etc): 3939Misconfigured (.local etc)Misconfigured (.local etc): 88UnparseableUnparseable: 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.

166124.58341.5011: 81112: 171213: 381314: 431415: 431516: 521617: 661718: 491819: 591920: 622021: 542122: 592223: 652324: 1662425: 1622526: 13726

How long people stay

Span from first to last commit anywhere in the org.

7455.53718.50same day: 74same day< 1 mth: 57< 1 mth1-3 mth: 311-3 mth3-12 mth: 653-12 mth1-2 yr: 331-2 yr2-4 yr: 242-4 yr4-7 yr: 64-7 yr7 yr +: 27 yr +

When the work happens

Commits by hour of day

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

4.7k3.5k2.3k1.2k000: 1940001: 11702: 1130203: 5904: 540405: 12506: 2390607: 51008: 1.4k0809: 3.2k10: 3.6k1011: 4.3k12: 3.6k1213: 3.4k14: 4.4k1415: 4.7k16: 4.5k1617: 2.8k18: 9481819: 54820: 5562021: 55822: 4172223: 301

Commits by day of week

8.5k6.4k4.2k2.1k0Sun: 851SunMon: 7.1kMonTue: 8.1kTueWed: 7.7kWedThu: 8.5kThuFri: 7.4kFriSat: 1kSat

Reading the pattern

Weekend commits account for 4.6% 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. 18 repositories qualify for the measure.

Bus factor across live repositories

Fewest contributors accounting for more than half the commits.

864201 person: 81 person2 people: 42 people3 people: 03 people4 people: 14 people5 people: 05 people6 or more: 56 or more

Where a single person wrote most of it

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

stream-zipstream-zip: 89%89%stream-unzipstream-unzip: 83%83%govuk-onelogin-djangogovuk-onelogin-django: 82%82%pysaml2pysaml2: 56%56%idscrubidscrub: 55%55%django-db-anonymiserdjango-db-anonymiser: 53%53%stream-read-xbrlstream-read-xbrl: 53%53%ordsords: 51%51%

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]: 2k2kgithub-actions[bot]github-actions[bot]: 409409pyup-botpyup-bot: 44github-actions[bot]github-actions[bot]: 22

Top 60 committers

CommitterEmail typeCommits ReposFirstLast Years
Will Langdalegov.uk2,00322023-062026-083.1
Will Gibsongithub-private1,69232023-042025-042.0
Kate Sugdengithub-private1,46022024-062026-082.2
Michal Charemzaother-org1,31282018-102026-067.7
Leonardo Mazzonegov.uk1,16912024-112026-081.8
Tony Griffingov.uk1,12532024-032026-082.4
John Stainsbygov.uk1,08332023-112026-082.8
Anthony Roygov.uk1,07722023-082025-071.9
Gabriel Naughtongov.uk1,01962023-012026-083.6
richtierpersonal934102016-102020-033.5
Saisakul Chernbumroonggithub-private83212024-092026-081.9
George Burtongithub-private76912024-022024-110.8
eadpearceother-org73622017-102019-021.3
Natasha Boysegov.uk73332020-062026-086.2
Dragos Stoiangov.uk73322025-022026-081.5
Harry Wixleygov.uk71112025-112026-080.7
Anthoni Gleesongov.uk69532024-072026-082.1
kowalcj0personal54152017-092020-032.5
elliot.mooregithub-private53612024-022024-080.6
Chris Hopkinsother-org52042025-092026-081.0
David Okekegithub-private50012025-062026-081.1
Simon Brunningother-org47012024-042024-080.3
Tash Boysegithub-private46152020-082026-086.0
Konrad Korżelpersonal44692016-092018-092.0
Liam Wilkinsongov.uk37812024-012024-080.6
Kier Davisgov.uk35322025-122026-070.6
Jayesh Patelgov.uk35142019-022025-026.1
Doug Millsgov.uk34812025-112026-060.6
Kevin Etchellsgov.uk32012024-012024-110.8
jamesrichardsgov.uk31312024-062024-110.4
Alessandro De Noiagov.uk31162016-092020-053.7
chiaramapellimtother-org28922024-082025-030.6
Lyndon Garveygov.uk28042018-092026-077.8
Lawrence Goldstiengov.uk27822023-082025-112.3
Josef Smithgov.uk20932023-032026-083.5
nora-errouhlygov.uk20812025-012026-031.1
Connor Hindlegov.uk20722024-092026-082.0
Samuele Mattiuzzogov.uk20622024-012024-060.4
Yusufother-org20112023-042023-090.4
Adrian Claygov.uk19232025-062026-081.2
Matthew Holmesgov.uk19012024-122026-081.7
Rachael Robinsongov.uk18612024-032024-100.6
Steven Burnellgov.uk16922017-052019-011.7
cropnburnpersonal14512017-102018-030.4
Sergio Recio Rodriguezgov.uk14312025-092026-020.4
Ugo Okoroaforgov.uk13812025-042025-080.4
Ross Millerother-org13732020-062022-011.6
Alex Lescionokgithub-private12922025-122026-080.7
lizzie-perry-dbtgov.uk12612026-042026-080.3
SamW94gov.uk125112025-072026-081.2
Andy Symondsgithub-private12312024-052024-070.2
David Glovergov.uk12222025-032026-081.4
Sophie Glintongithub-private12022024-112025-111.0
Adam Wozencroftgov.uk11882024-032026-072.3
David Williamsgov.uk10612025-012026-071.5
Jack Swerdlowgov.uk10332025-122026-010.1
Sam Browngithub-private10112025-072025-120.4
Mike Ramplingov.uk9822024-062025-010.6
Ravi Pradhangov.uk9722024-102025-040.4
Chiaragithub-private9022024-092025-040.6