Epic
An Epic is a large user story or body of work that is too big to complete in a single iteration and must be broken down into smaller, more manageable user stories.
Explanation
Epics represent significant functionality or business objectives that span multiple sprints. They serve as containers for related user stories and provide a high-level view of the work needed to deliver a large feature or capability. As the team approaches an epic, it is progressively elaborated into smaller user stories that can fit within a single sprint.
Epics are useful for roadmap planning and communication with stakeholders. They provide enough detail to understand the scope and value of a feature without requiring the granularity needed for sprint-level planning. In many tools, epics sit at the top of a hierarchy: Epic, Feature, User Story, Task.
In SAFe, epics have a formal lifecycle with an epic hypothesis statement and a lean business case. They go through a Kanban system at the portfolio level and are approved based on WSJF prioritization before being broken down into features and stories for teams to implement.
Key Points
- •Large body of work that spans multiple iterations
- •Broken down into smaller user stories for sprint-level planning
- •Useful for roadmap planning and stakeholder communication
- •In SAFe, epics have a formal lifecycle with lean business cases
Exam Tip
An epic is too large for a single sprint. If a question describes a large requirement, the first step is to decompose it into smaller stories.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Topics
User Stories
A User Story is a short, informal description of a feature told from the perspective of the person who desires the new capability, typically following the format: As a [role], I want [goal], so that [benefit].
Feature (Agile)
A Feature in agile is a service or functionality that fulfills a stakeholder need, sized to be deliverable within a single iteration or Program Increment, and typically composed of multiple user stories.
Release Planning
Release Planning is an agile practice where the team and Product Owner determine the scope, timing, and goals for the next product release by mapping backlog items across future iterations based on team velocity.
Product Backlog
The Product Backlog is an emergent, ordered list of everything that might be needed in the product, serving as the single source of requirements for any changes to be made.
Part of
Agile & Hybrid
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