Stop 05 · Requirements & DocumentationTopics · 3/9

Epics vs Stories vs Tasks

In short

Big goals are too large to build in one go. Breaking them into epics, stories and tasks keeps everyone clear on the big picture and today's work.

An epic is a large body of work spanning multiple sprints, broken into stories (a shippable slice of user value), which are further broken into tasks (the individual engineering steps).

The purple blob carries a tall stack of cardboard boxes into a new flat.

Think of it like this

Moving into a new flat

Epic: move into the new flat. Story: I can cook a meal on day one. Tasks: get the gas connected, unpack the utensils box, buy groceries. The epic is the dream, stories are the wins, tasks are the to-dos.

Watch it happen

Breaking down a hostel booking app

Epic: room booking

Story: see free rooms

Story: pay deposit

Task: rooms API

Task: list screen

Task: UPI hookup

Task: receipt email

1/4Epic: a big chunk of value that takes several sprints. Students can book hostel rooms online.

The big ideas

What you need to know

Epic: the big goal

Too big for one sprint. Gives context so stories don't feel random.

Story: user value

Written from the user's side, small enough to finish in one sprint.

Task: the work

Technical steps like "build API" or "write migration". Usually written by engineers.

Names vary by tool

Jira, Linear and others use slightly different names, but the layers are the same idea.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Writing stories that are really tasks, like "Create database table".

Do this instead

Stories describe user value. Put technical steps as tasks under a story.

Oops

Making an epic so big it never closes.

Do this instead

Keep epics focused on one outcome, finishable within a quarter or so.

Your mission

Break down an epic

~25 min

Quick check

"Add an index to the orders table" is best described as what?

Go deeper

1Break a feature idea into one epic, 3-5 stories, and a handful of tasks under one story.
2Learn why stories should be independently shippable where possible.
3Practice sizing: which of your stories could fit in a single sprint?