Understanding Git Workflow from Working Directory, Staging, Commit, and Push.

Adolph Ochieng — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 20:34:12 +0000

Git

Git is used to track changes in files and allow for managing ythe developmnet of projects, especially those that entail data. I used git to enable me record the different versions of my data from the original raw data, compare changes, without interfering with the initial data.

Git Workflow

Git has a series of commands that are important for committing changes and tracking the data. The commands are described as a Git Workflow as it involves checking the status of the current project, making changes to the projects by adding files, and committing the changes. The Git Workflow is quite vital as it allows for a systematic and organised way of managing changes, keeping a record of every progress, and making it easier to identify the areas that changes were made.

My project was Kenya Health Records Analysis and it contained and excel data, thus was in this structure:

`Kenya Health Records Analysis/ 
- Kenya Health Records Analysis.xlsx 
- README.md`

Checking the Project Directory

I used cd "Kenya Health Records Analysis" to access the project directory then ran the command ls -la to list the contents that were in the directory

Checking README File

cat README.md
This displayed the contents of the file such as the Title, tools used, and the challenges faced.

Initialize Git

git init
I ran this command to instruct Git that I needed the project to become a git repository.
To confirm whether it was successful, I ran the command ls -laand git status

Changing a file

I was able to edit and modify my project in this stage by opening the README.md file and adding more information in the Challenges Faced section.
I then ran git status but got this error:

`Changes not staged for commit: 
      modified: README.md

I noted that changing a file does not directly create a commit. I therefore, ran git add README.md which communicates to git to adjust the changes.

Commit

git commit -m
This was for creating a checkpoint in the project analysis by recording the changes I have done in the project. It also allowed for me to continue working without having to push the changes in Github immediately.

git commit -m "Kenya Health Records Analysis"

Checking Commit History

git log --oneline
This command allowed me to inspect every of my commit history

This is followed by git status to understand the current state of the project

Push

git push
After making the challenges locally, I ran git push origin main to send them to the remote repository.

Functions of Git

Track changes
Create commits
Mmaintain project history
Manage different versions of my project locally

Conclusion

During this project, I learnt that Git workflow is a sequence and not just a list of random commands. It starts from inspecting the project files with ls -la and then reading the documentation through running cat README.md. I can then run git status to understand the latest status of the repository. After this, I commit using git commit -m, and can review the history using git log --oneline.To finally share the local commits I made, I ran the command git push origin main.
Understanding this workflow gave me essential foundation for working with data analytics project as the one in Kenya Health Records Analysis in terms of documenting my work, and building a portfolio as a Data Scientist.

DEV Community: Adolph Ochieng