Demystifying Epics in Azure DevOps

Hey friend! Let‘s talk about one of the most important yet often misunderstood concepts in Azure DevOps – the epic.

I‘ve been working as a DevOps consultant helping companies transform how they build software for over 5 years now. I‘ve seen firsthand how epics can empower teams to deliver value – when used right.

In this guide, we‘ll unpack everything you need to know about epics including:

• What exactly is an epic
• When you should use epics – and when you maybe shouldn‘t
• How epics provide structure without the overhead of traditional requirements
• Tips to write clear, effective epics your team will love
• Step-by-step instructions for managing epics in Azure DevOps
• Common pitfalls to avoid along your epic journey

So if you‘re struggling to split hairs between epics, stories, and tasks, or just want to level up your backlog skills – stick with me. By the end, you‘ll have a solid handle on how to wield epics to help your team build better software.

What is an Epic?

Let‘s start with the basics. An epic is a large body of work that can be broken down into a number of smaller stories. Epics provide the big picture view of key initiatives that help make up your product roadmap.

Think of epics as containers for related functionality. They capture the "why" behind what you‘re building and the high-level "what." The "how" is mapped out in finer detail through specific stories and tasks.

Some examples of epics might include:

• Integrated chat capabilities
• Mobile app optimization
• Shopping cart and checkout

I recently worked with an e-commerce company that relied heavily on annual promotions. One of their epics was:

Annual Promotions Engine

As a marketing user, I need a flexible system to quickly create and schedule promotional campaigns so that we can respond to changing business needs.

This epic helped frame the high-level goal. The team then broke it down into stories around promotion configuration, scheduling, notifications, and reporting capabilities.

So in summary, epics:

• Group related stories together
• Capture larger initiatives and focus areas
• Provide high-level roadmap visibility
• Help organize and prioritize the team‘s work

Thinking in terms of epics encourages product managers and teams to focus on big picture goals and the customer problems they are solving.

Epic vs Story vs Task

Epics, stories, and tasks each serve a distinct purpose:

Item	Scope	Size	Detail	Example
Epic	Initiatives	Large	High-Level	Shopping Cart
Story	Feature set	Medium	Defines needs	Add items to cart
Task	To-do item	Small	Technical	Create cart database table

• Epics capture the "what" and "why" at a high level
• Stories break this down into detailed "what" based on user needs
• Tasks capture the specific "how" and technical work

Think of it as a pyramid, with epics at the top representing broad initiatives which are broken into smaller and smaller chunks of executable work as you go down.

When Should You Use Epics?

Epics provide the most value in these scenarios:

• You have large initiatives that will take multiple sprints to complete
• Features can be broken down into incremental user stories
• Your team uses sprints and backlogs to manage work
• You need a high-level roadmap view alongside granular sprint planning

For example, let‘s say your team is building a new checkout system over the next quarter. You may create an epic like:

Streamlined Checkout Flow

And break it down into stories delivering value incrementally:

As a user, I can save my shipping address so I don‘t enter it each purchase

As a user, I can store multiple payment methods to check out faster

And so on. Each story works toward the high-level epic goal.

However, epics aren‘t always necessary. For example:

• Smaller projects with just a handful of stories
• Work that is exploratory and harder to plan at a high level
• Teams practicing Kanban who pull work as needed vs. planning sprints

In these cases you don‘t necessarily need epics to coordinate things. Stories on their own may provide enough structure.

So in summary, epics help bridge the gap between long-term roadmaps and short-term execution. But not every team needs this linkage. Use your best judgment!

Now let‘s get into some epic best practices…

Writing Great Epics

Clear epics set your team up for success. Follow these guidelines:

• Customer-focused – Epics should frame goals around the customer perspective and their needs. Not technical details.

• Appropriately sized – Target somewhere between 1-3 months of effort. Epics larger than that tend to be too broad.

• Cohesive – Stories within an epic should share a close thematic connection and goal. Avoid grouping arbitrary stories.

• Valuable – Epics should enable meaningful increment(s) in customer functionality and experience.

• Testable – Have a measurable outcome that completes the epic, like shipping a particular feature set.

• Independent – Epics should have minimal overlap or coupling with other big initiatives.

Let‘s look at some examples of good and bad epics:

Type	Epic	Assessment
Good	Unified Mobile App	Customer-focused. Appropriately-sized for one quarter.
Bad	New Features	Vague. Not a cohesive goal.
Good	Profile Personalization	Testable and valuable functionality.
Bad	Bug Fixes	Not an customer initiative. Just work needing to get done.

Try to limit epics to a manageable number per project. Somewhere between 5-10 provides enough structure without getting overwhelming.

Working with Epics in Azure DevOps

Now that you understand epics conceptually, let‘s look at how you actually work with them in Azure DevOps.

Navigate to Boards > Backlogs within your project to view the product backlog. You‘ll see epics grouped above stories.

Creating an Epic

Get started by drafting a new epic:

1. Select New Epic from the top right of your backlog
2. Give your epic a descriptive Title and Description
3. Hit Save

Azure DevOps will assign your new epic a unique identifier you can use to track it.

Adding Stories

Once you‘ve created your shiny new epic, it‘s time to populate it with stories:

1. Select the epic from the backlog
2. Click Add Product Backlog Item
3. Fill out details for your new story
4. Link it to the desired epic

Repeat the process to chunk out your big epic into small, vertical stories delivering value. Try to size stories small enough to complete in 1-2 weeks.

Managing and Tracking

Now let‘s look at ways to manage epics as they progress:

• Prioritization – Drag epics up and down on the backlog to reflect priority.

• Assignment – Assign epics to teams or individuals responsible for delivery.

• Estimation – Estimate overall effort level for the epic. Then estimate size of each story.

• Tracking – Mark epics as "In Progress" or "Done" to reflect status.

• Visualization – Add epic swimlanes to Agile boards to see all stories at a glance.

• Reporting – Roll up epic burndowns, velocity, and cumulative flow.

Take advantage of Azure DevOps‘ rich tooling for planning, tracking, and reporting on your epics. The key is finding a cadence that works for your team.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

While epics offer many benefits, they also come with some common traps:

Too large in scope – Resistance to break down epics can undermine agility. Target 1-3 months of work.

Too granular – Epics that are small enough to complete in a few days don‘t provide enough structure.

Orphan stories – Every story should contribute to a higher-level epic goal. Avoid one-off stories not aligned to epics.

Too many epics – Limit epics to focus attention on the vital 20% initiatives delivering the most value.

Dead end epics – Don‘t lose sight of the customer goal. Ensure epics lead to a testable, releasable outcome.

Avoiding these pitfalls comes down to constantly critiquing your epics as you learn more, and maintaining a ruthless focus on delivering value.

Key Takeaways

Let‘s recap what we learned:

• An epic is a high-level initiative used to organize stories
• Epics provide roadmap structure without overconstraint
• They group stories to enable flexibility within a customer goal
• Effective epics should be sized appropriately, testable and valuable
• Azure DevOps provides tools to manage epics across sprints
• Limit epics and beware of common traps that can undermine agility

Got all that? By now you should be well on your way to leveraging epics like a pro.

Putting it All Together

Think you‘ve got a handle on epics now? Let‘s quickly walk through an example:

Our Acme Company needs to boost engagement by connecting users together. The product manager defines an epic:

User Friends and Mentorship Program

As a user, I want to network and build relationships so I can get value from my peers.

They then break this into stories:

• As a user, I can search profiles and send connection requests
• As a user, I can accept/reject incoming connection requests
• As a user, I can view my network and message connections
• As a user, I can flag mentors based on their skills and expertise

Each story represents a vertical feature slice that contributes toward the broader epic. Stories are assigned, prioritized, and tracked against the epic as they progress sprint by sprint.

After a few months, the epic completes with measurable improvements in engagement. Customers are connected based on the program launched under this epic initiative.

This end-to-end example hopefully illustrates how epics, stories, and tasks come together to drive real world results!

Wrapping Up

Thanks for sticking with me through this epic guide! By now I hope you have a solid grasp on what epics are, why they matter, and how to leverage them for your team.

As you continue your agile journey, don‘t forget to keep iterating and experimenting. Treat epics as a tool to help you deliver, not a burden. Stay focused on bringing value to customers.

Drop me any follow up questions below or reach out on Twitter – I‘m always happy to chat more! Looking forward to seeing how you apply epics on your projects.