When Should Items No Longer Be Added To An Epic

11/30/23, 12:57 PM When should items no longer be added to an epic? | Scrum.
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When should items no

longer be added to an epic?
Last post 06:47 pm September 15, 2021 by Ruth Russell
4 replies
Dev Dev
05:05 am September 14, 2021
Say we have a product feature for user profile management

which is considered an epic. Under this epic are 10 user stories.
When we have new user stories / tasks related to this epic,

how long is too long, to keep adding to the epic?
Let's say, for example, the 10 user stories were completed, the
epic is closed. Three months later, following user feedback, we
need to enhance the user profile management. Do we add to
the existing - but now closed/completed - epic, or do we create
a new epic? (User profile management 2?)
This is still part of the same parent feature for user profile
management so it doesn't belong on it's own or part of
anything else. Epics can't live forever (or can they, should
they?) and it doesn't seem sensible to append numbers to
epics or have clashing names. While the feature is not
complete we are fine with adding more but this can lead to an
always shifting deadline so the epic never closes.
I'm interested to hear how this should be approached.
Ian Mitchell
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11/30/23, 12:57 PM When should items no longer be added to an epic? | Scrum.org
06:14 pm September 14, 2021
An epic user story is still a user story, meaning it is a

placeholder for a conversation about a possible requirement.
When the conversations are over the story is over. If more
conversations are needed, then that would indicate a new story
or epic.
Daniel Wilhite
The Scrum answer to this is "what's an epic?". The Scrum

Guide does not say anything about epics, stories, tasks, etc.
That is a construct that your organization has decided to use.
This comes from the Scrum Guide's section on the Product
Backlog
The Product Backlog is an emergent, ordered

list of what is needed to improve the product.
It is the single source of work undertaken by
the Scrum Team.
Product Backlog items that can be Done by

the Scrum Team within one Sprint are
deemed ready for selection in a Sprint
Planning event. They usually acquire this
degree of transparency after refining
activities. Product Backlog refinement is the
act of breaking down and further defining
Product Backlog items into smaller more
precise items. This is an ongoing activity to
add details, such as a description, order, and
size. Attributes often vary with the domain of
work.
of Service
Epics are a method that many people use to help associate

Product Backlog Items together in some meaningful way. Your
Scrum Team needs to be the ones that answer your question.
However, my suggestion is very much in line with @Ian

Mitchell's response. Every Product Backlog Item describes a
change that needs to occur to the product. In your explanation
you state that the original change has been completed and that
a new change is being requested. So in my opinion, the two are
only related because of the code base. But if you have a need
to keep track of all changes made for the user profile
management in an easy to navigate way, you might want to
keep them associated to a single epic.
Again, it is all up to your team to decide.
Dev Dev
12:18 am September 15, 2021
Thanks for the responses. Having the conversation and up to

the team to decide how it works for us is great.
Ruth Russell
I noticed a post from Garrie Irons that resonates:
"Epics give "arcs of activity." That's all. So you may have a

"make it usable" as your first epic, and "make it mobile" as
your second, then "beyond the MVP" as your third (by which
point, you may have defined some new Epics). Every iteration
is workable - the Epics put the Iterations between bookmarks
describing "what did this set of sprints do?"."
It might be worth considering creating a new Epic and linking it

to the first one if you have a tool that provides for that.
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11/30/23, 12:57 PM When should items no longer be added to an epic? | Scrum.

When should items no

05:05 am September 14, 2021

Say we have a product feature for user profile management

When we have new user stories / tasks related to this epic,

I'm interested to hear how this should be approached.

06:14 pm September 14, 2021

An epic user story is still a user story, meaning it is a

06:48 pm September 14, 2021

The Scrum answer to this is "what's an epic?". The Scrum

The Product Backlog is an emergent, ordered

Product Backlog items that can be Done by

Epics are a method that many people use to help associate

However, my suggestion is very much in line with @Ian

Again, it is all up to your team to decide.

12:18 am September 15, 2021

Thanks for the responses. Having the conversation and up to

04:09 pm September 15, 2021

I noticed a post from Garrie Irons that resonates:

"Epics give "arcs of activity." That's all. So you may have a

It might be worth considering creating a new Epic and linking it

By posting on our forums you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.

Scrum.org may, at its discretion, remove any post that it deems

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2023 © Scrum.org. All Rights Reserved.

Contact Privacy Terms of Service TM and © Guidelines

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