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Epics and User Stories: if you’ve asked yourself which is which, this article is for you. Product Management
In agile software development, epics provide a summary of a feature of the product. User Product Manager's life
stories are often a part of the epic and describe specific user actions that need to Product roadmaps
happen to complete their larger goal. But of course, the answer is not that simple, so let’s Story mapping
look at it in more detail!
Contents
What’s a User Story?
What’s an Epic in Agile? About
Epics and User Stories: What’s the Difference? StoriesOnBoard is a product
How Can You Use Epics and User Stories in Agile Projects? management tool built around
Organize Your Product Backlog Into a Story Map story mapping. Designed for all
Why Use User Story Mapping? sizes of teams and
Epics and User Stories: Wrapping Up organizations.
Learn more from our free story mapping e-book
When you’re planning a new software product or a digital service, it’s important to create
a backlog structure so your team has a shared understanding of what to build and in
what order the tasks follow each other. You need something that aligns your team and
gives them the ability to execute their ideas.
Although there are many different agile practices for creating new software, epics and
user stories are the most popular approaches to describing features in the software
development process.
Both of these techniques have their pros and cons depending on what type of software Free story mapping ebook
you’re building and what kind of backlog you have. Understanding these differences will
help you determine which one is the best fit for your project.
Let’s take a look at what each of these terms means so you can choose the right
technique for your next project.

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What’s a User Story?
A user story is a short, written description of how the software should work from the
perspective of the end user.
A good user story will include an action or event, an actor (the person or thing that Ask an expert
makes the request, or the user), and a result. The result can be either in direct response Need some personal help? Take
to the action or event of the user story, or it can be something that follows the action. a closer look and learn more
For example: about user story mapping and
product management
As a customer, I want to know about upcoming events so I can plan my visit. processes.
As a visitor, I want to see upcoming events on my mobile device.
Book a time slot
Writing Great User Stories: A Guide for Business Analysts
Common pitfalls of a user story
Many people write user stories to document a feature they want to create. But when they Follow us
do this, they often make a few mistakes. Here are the most common pitfalls of a user
story:
Writing too many details in one story: You must keep your stories as concise as
possible. The more detail you include about what you’re trying to do, the less likely
it is for someone else on your team to understand it.
Too many stories at one time: If you have too many stories, like more than 10, it
can be hard for the person creating them to stay organized and focused on what’s
important.
Talking about implementation details in a user story: When you’re writing a story,
it’s best not to focus on implementation details or how things will be done. That
should be saved for another type of document or discussion within your team so
that nothing gets lost in translation between different teams.
What’s an Epic in Agile?
An epic is probably too big to fit into a sprint and needs to be broken down into stories
and tasks. Epics are usually defined during the initial product roadmap or backlog and
broken down into stories as further knowledge is gained in the product list. Epics are
written in a user story format in story mapping.
The stories in an epic have a common purpose and a specific outcome, a high-level user
need, or a part of a journey or process taken while using the product.
In agile software development, an epic is a lengthy document that provides a summary of
the features of your product.
Epics are good for communicating the scope of your product to stakeholders and will
help you get everyone on the same page when it comes to what should be done.
Epics are typically one or two pages long and should have a detailed description of the
feature as well as its benefits for the user. This includes a snapshot of how this feature
fits into your product roadmap, what’s needed from other teams to complete this feature,
the timeline for when this feature will be completed, and how this will affect your
customers.
This process allows you to break down your project into smaller parts so it’s easier to
manage and work on. It also ensures everyone is on the same page when it comes to
what they need to do next.

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8/22/23, 12:18 AM Epics And User Stories Best Practices - StoriesOnBoard Blog
Other pros of epics are that they help keep track of all the different features in your
product, as well as give team members an idea of what needs to be done next.

How To Create a Roadmap and Use It in the Product Development

Process?
Common pitfalls of an epic
Epics are a good way to coordinate a team to work together on specific goals. However,
they can also be difficult to manage and maintain if you don’t have the right organization
in place. This is because epics are typically assigned to large chunks of work that span
many different teams or people.
Think of an epic as a large project with multiple steps that requires input from many
different groups and individuals. Without a good implementation method in place, it’s
easy for an epic to turn into a nightmare.
Epics and User Stories: What’s the Difference?
Epics are a series of user stories that are related to one another. Epics provide a way for
teams to tie together their work and prioritize it in order of importance. Stories provide
the “what” while epics answer the “why” and “how.”
A user story is a small snippet of text that provides detailed information about how a user
will interact with your software product. User stories answer questions like who, what,
why, when, where, and how. They give you a sense of your product from the user’s point
of view—what they need to accomplish something important in your product, how they’ll
do it, and why.

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How Can You Use Epics and User Stories in Agile

Projects?
When you first start planning an agile development project, all the user stories are likely
to be in epic form. Then, as the product owner starts prioritizing, the epics will be broken
down into user stories.
Products are typically described by hundreds of requirements or user stories, which are
sorted into a product backlog. Epics cannot be completed in a single sprint, so they are
broken down into several user stories and then into groups of related tasks.
Epics and user stories are both well-known agile principles. Generally, they help you plan
software projects more effectively by dividing the project into smaller, manageable
pieces.
At a high level, an epic is a larger goal for your project that spans more than one sprint.
An epic might include features like improved customer service or minimizing future
customer complaints.
User stories are a part of the epic and describe specific actions that need to happen to
complete the larger goal. For example, with an epic called “improve customer service,”
you might have a user story called “provide live chat as an option” or “respond to emails
within 24 hours.”
In agile, epics and user stories are used differently depending on whether you using
them for product management or sprint planning.
When used for product management, an epic would be broken down into several
user stories before being assigned to developers during sprint planning.
When used for sprint planning, epics are grouped as part of a sprint backlog so
teams can work on specific items at a time.

Prioritize User Stories Like a UX Designer

Organize Your Product Backlog Into a Story Map

User stories are a way of organizing your product backlog visually into a story map. In
this approach, you break down the different features of your product into smaller chunks
that will be easier to digest for the team. This includes creating user stories with the
“who” and “what” to describe what users are trying to accomplish, as well as defining the
“why”- why they need to do this task.
Epics are large sections of user functionality that cover multiple related user goals. They
can include features like login/register, dashboard, search, marketing campaign editor,
and more. Epics help you organize your product backlog in an intuitive way that is easy
for stakeholders to understand.

User Story Mapping: How To Start And How To Get the Most Out of
It?

Why Use User Story Mapping?

User story mapping is a technique that helps you outline the user experience. Map out
key features is the best way to structure those features based on what users need. When
you map out the user story, it’s easy to visualize and understand how a customer will use
your product.
It allows you to focus on your business and customer needs. By doing this, you can
determine where there is friction in your product or where your customers are struggling
with understanding your product. User story mapping is valuable because it helps align
teams and provides guidance for structuring software projects.
Epics and User Stories: Wrapping Up
Epics and user stories are two different methods for building new software features.
Understanding the differences between these two types of approaches will help you
choose between an epic vs user story that is most appropriate for your next project.
Learn more from our free story mapping e-book
FREE Story
Mapping Playbook
100 user story examples, user story
templates for specs, and more!
Download

story mapping, product discovery, product management, user story mapping

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