Make Infinite Epics, Finite.
Infinite Jira Epic
When writing a Jira Epic, we tend to name them “Product Listing Page”, “Infrastructure”, and “Payment Modal Window”. Then, during the planning and dailies, we become task-oriented.
That makes us less collaborative, and that makes the meetings non-valuable. Remember the last planning when we picked the random Jira issues just to keep us busy?
Instead of writing infinite epics. Make them finite.
Finite Jira Epic
Name it - “Consumer pays with an online transfer for an order”.
We may mix frontend, backend, infrastructure and design efforts in this epic. Most likely, an epic will contain multiple stories. It’s even more apparent on a Jira board as a single swimlane, making daily planning easier. And we have a single screen to see the overall progress towards the goal.
It is like a meta-story, a meaningful part of the user’s or team’s journey. It makes us focused on achieving the goal.
It is more horizontal on a user story map. Not vertical.
If we cannot connect a single Jira issue with a goal. Maybe we shouldn’t work on this one at all. That’s ok to use buckets, but not ok to work on them.