Epics, Stories and Sub-tasks in Jira Explained
The three levels of work in Jira: an epic is a feature, a story is a piece a team finishes in one sprint, and a sub-task is one step of that story. See all three on a real Jira site and add sub-tasks to a story.
Step by step
Three levels
- Epic, story, sub-task. Epic, story and sub-task are the 3 levels of work in Jira. When people mix them up, the backlog gets hard to read, so here they are from the top down.
- Epic. At the top is the epic: one big feature, here Checkout. It is too big to finish in one sprint.
- Stories. Under the epic sit its child items: stories, and bugs too. Each story is something a shopper can use, and it is small enough to finish in one sprint. The progress bar shows how much of the epic is done. Click the story key SCRUM-9, Apply a discount code, to open the story. The breadcrumb at the top shows its parent, the Checkout epic. Most stories should have an epic as their parent, so the work adds up to a feature.
Sub-tasks
- Sub-tasks. The lowest level is the sub-task: one step of the story's work, often for one person and about a day or less. In the open story, click Add subtask. Type the first step: Write test cases for discount codes. Click Create. The sub-task now shows under the story. Add the other steps the same way. Sub-tasks go into the same sprint as their story, and the story should only move to Done once all of its sub-tasks are done.
- Not a smaller story. A common mistake: a sub-task is not a small story. If a piece is useful to the shopper on its own, make it a story under the epic instead.
Recap
- Epic, story, sub-task. In short: the epic is the feature, stories are the pieces a shopper can use (one sprint each), and sub-tasks are the steps inside one story.
Common mistakes
- Using sub-tasks as small stories. If a piece gives the shopper something useful on its own, like paying with a saved card, make it a story under the epic. Keep sub-tasks for the steps inside one story, such as writing test cases.
- Stories with no parent epic. A story with no epic doesn't count towards any feature, so the epic's progress bar is wrong. Set the epic as the story's parent so the breadcrumb shows it.
- Stories too big for one sprint. If a story can't be finished in one sprint, it is really a small epic. Split it into stories a user can use, each small enough to finish in one sprint.
- Trying to add sub-tasks straight to an epic. In Jira's standard setup, sub-tasks sit under a story, task or bug, not under an epic. Create a story under the epic first, then add the sub-tasks to that story.
When a business analyst uses this
In backlog refinement, a business analyst writes the Checkout epic, splits it into stories like Apply a discount code, each with its own acceptance criteria and small enough for one sprint, and lets the team add sub-tasks such as Write test cases for discount codes. At sign-off, each requirement can be traced from the epic down to its stories.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between an epic and a story in Jira?
An epic is a big feature that takes more than one sprint, like Checkout. A story is one piece of that feature a user can use, small enough to finish in one sprint, and its parent is the epic.
Can you add a sub-task to an epic in Jira?
Not in Jira's standard setup. An epic's children are stories, tasks and bugs, and sub-tasks go under those. Create a story under the epic and add the sub-tasks there.
Can a sub-task be in a different sprint from its story?
No. A sub-task goes into whatever sprint its parent story is in. If one step needs to be planned on its own, it is probably a story, not a sub-task.
