Epic Stories / Epic

Epics are large, broad categories used to encapsulate significant initiatives or features within a project that are not yet fully understood or defined. Their scope is generally too large and their details too vague to be actionable in a single iteration.

Use of Epics: Epics act as placeholders for important but initially vague ideas, crucial during the early stages of project planning and backlog creation. As these ideas are explored and better understood, Epics are progressively refined and decomposed. This refinement process is essential for transforming them into well-defined, large requirements that are actionable and aligned with the project's goals.

Advantages of Epics: Epics are invaluable for fostering initial discussions around significant, yet vaguely understood, project functions, serving as organizational tools to outline and explore major project areas before they are fully detailed. By acting as placeholders for these broad and initially vague concepts, Epics provide a structure for ongoing dialogue and exploration, helping teams to strategically plan their development efforts as their understanding of the project's needs deepens. Even after refinement, Epics can be retained as containers to cluster together related work that originated from the initial epic concept, ensuring coherence and continuity in project execution