Epic
A large piece of value or a capability, delivered over weeks or months and broken into stories and tasks.
What it is
An epic is a capability users or the business will notice as a whole: online rescheduling, reminders, a staff schedule view. It is too big to build in one go, so it is split into stories (with code) and tasks (without).
Why it matters
Epics are the level at which scope is decided and progress is felt. They let a team say "rescheduling is 3 of 5 stories done" instead of counting tickets, and they are where the question "is this still worth it?" is asked.
What goes wrong without it
- Stories float without a shared purpose, and nobody sees the capability until it is almost finished.
- Half-finished capabilities ship because nobody tracked what was still missing.
What it gives an AI agent
An agent that knows the epic behind a story sees the neighbouring stories and avoids building the same thing twice, or building one story in a way that blocks the next.
Example: Clinic Booking
| Weak | Strong |
|---|---|
| Appointment improvements. | Online rescheduling: patients move or cancel their own appointments without calling the clinic. |
How it relates to the rest
- Part of a theme; stories, tasks and defects are part of it.
- Usually implements business or stakeholder requirements.
- Planned in a work package.
In Corpole
- Type Epic (EP). Workflow: Idea, Analysis, Ready, In delivery, Done.
- Corpole warns about work that implements no requirement: without one, it is scope creep until a requirement is linked.