{"id":12269,"date":"2013-12-10T14:47:02","date_gmt":"2013-12-10T20:47:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/?p=12269"},"modified":"2020-02-21T14:50:02","modified_gmt":"2020-02-21T20:50:02","slug":"epics-stories-and-tasks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/","title":{"rendered":"Epics, Stories, and Tasks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12270\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/how-to-eat-an-elephant.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Have you ever looked at a body of work and wondered how you would get it all done?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>They say the best way to eat an elephant is to take one bite at a time.*<\/strong><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">This analogy does a great job of explaining why it is a good idea to break down your work into manageable (bite-sized) pieces. Without breaking down your work, doing that huge project seems impossible. Let\u2019s take a look at how to break down your work.<\/p>\n<h2>Understanding Epics (Projects), Stories and Tasks<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12271\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12271\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12271\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/epic-story-task-elephants.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12271\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">It\u2019s a good idea to visually break down your work into epics, stories and tasks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Epics \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0Large projects that entail many people over a long time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stories \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Smaller projects within an Epic that must be completed before the Epic can be considered \u2018Done\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tasks \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0The day-to-day things you must do to complete a Story. Tasks are individual work items that can be done with relatively little effort, like making phone calls, writing an email or having a meeting.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Breaking down work sounds straight-forward, but it can take some practice if you aren\u2019t used to working in this way. For example, if your task is to plan an event, you may just put one item on your to-do list and call it, \u201cPlan event.\u201d But this task is actually a series of tasks (and maybe even a series of mini-projects) that require various people and resources to get done.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12272\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/how-to-eat-an-elephant-II.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">To begin breaking down your work, think of it in terms of\u00a0<strong>action steps<\/strong>. If a task has more than one action step, it should probably be further broken down so that those steps can be clearly represented on a\u00a0<a title=\"What is a Kanban Board?\" href=\"https:\/\/www.planview.com\/resources\/articles\/what-is-kanban-board\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-ol-has-click-handler=\"\">task board<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">It may sound like a lot of effort just to get all of the work broken down, but reducing large portions of work into smaller portions makes eating the elephant possible.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12273\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/how-to-eat-an-elephant-III.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The breakdown of work also provides a way for even the largest teams to<strong>\u00a0work iterativel<\/strong>y (i.e., reduce potentially wasted effort as changes occur to a project) while retaining the ability to scale up or down to accommodate projects of any size.<\/p>\n<p>* No elephants were harmed in the making of this blog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever looked at a body of work and wondered how you would get it all done? They say the best way to eat an elephant is to take one bite at a time.* This analogy does a great job of explaining why it is a good idea to break down your work into&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[511],"class_list":["post-12269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-work-collaboration","tag-leankit"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.8 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Epics, Stories, and Tasks - Blog | Planview<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Have you ever looked at a body of work and wondered how you would get it all done?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Epics, Stories, and Tasks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Have you ever looked at a body of work and wondered how you would get it all done?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Planview Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Planview-Inc\/89422974772\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-10T20:47:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-21T20:50:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/how-to-eat-an-elephant.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Planview Blog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Planview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Planview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Planview Blog\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Planview Blog\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fd58aa7028c738371555a4f6fe4032f4\"},\"headline\":\"Epics, Stories, and Tasks\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-10T20:47:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-21T20:50:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/\"},\"wordCount\":374,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/how-to-eat-an-elephant.gif\",\"keywords\":[\"LeanKit\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Work Management for Teams\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/\",\"name\":\"Epics, Stories, and Tasks - Blog | Planview\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/how-to-eat-an-elephant.gif\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-10T20:47:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-21T20:50:02+00:00\",\"description\":\"Have you ever looked at a body of work and wondered how you would get it all done?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/how-to-eat-an-elephant.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/how-to-eat-an-elephant.gif\",\"width\":600,\"height\":300},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Epics, Stories, and Tasks\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/\",\"name\":\"Planview Blog\",\"description\":\"Leading the conversation on digital connected work\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Planview\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/planview-logo-black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/planview-logo-black.png\",\"width\":280,\"height\":66,\"caption\":\"Planview\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Planview-Inc\/89422974772\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/Planview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fd58aa7028c738371555a4f6fe4032f4\",\"name\":\"Planview Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/author\/planviewblog\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Epics, Stories, and Tasks - Blog | Planview","description":"Have you ever looked at a body of work and wondered how you would get it all done?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Epics, Stories, and Tasks","og_description":"Have you ever looked at a body of work and wondered how you would get it all done?","og_url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/","og_site_name":"Planview Blog","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Planview-Inc\/89422974772","article_published_time":"2013-12-10T20:47:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-02-21T20:50:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/how-to-eat-an-elephant.gif","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Planview Blog","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Planview","twitter_site":"@Planview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Planview Blog","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/"},"author":{"name":"Planview Blog","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fd58aa7028c738371555a4f6fe4032f4"},"headline":"Epics, Stories, and Tasks","datePublished":"2013-12-10T20:47:02+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-21T20:50:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/"},"wordCount":374,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/how-to-eat-an-elephant.gif","keywords":["LeanKit"],"articleSection":["Work Management for Teams"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/","name":"Epics, Stories, and Tasks - Blog | Planview","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/how-to-eat-an-elephant.gif","datePublished":"2013-12-10T20:47:02+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-21T20:50:02+00:00","description":"Have you ever looked at a body of work and wondered how you would get it all done?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/how-to-eat-an-elephant.gif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/how-to-eat-an-elephant.gif","width":600,"height":300},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/epics-stories-and-tasks\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Epics, Stories, and Tasks"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/","name":"Planview Blog","description":"Leading the conversation on digital connected work","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#organization","name":"Planview","url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/planview-logo-black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/planview-logo-black.png","width":280,"height":66,"caption":"Planview"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Planview-Inc\/89422974772","https:\/\/x.com\/Planview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fd58aa7028c738371555a4f6fe4032f4","name":"Planview Blog","url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/author\/planviewblog\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12269\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}