What an Epic Is and Why You Need One

An Epic in Jira is a container for related work that spans multiple sprints or projects. It groups together stories, tasks, and bugs that all work toward the same goal — like "Redesign the checkout flow" or "Migrate to a new database." Epics let you track progress on large initiatives without getting lost in individual tickets.

Unlike a single story, which your team might finish in one or two weeks, an epic can take months. Jira shows you how many stories are done, how many are in progress, and how many are still to come. This gives your team and stakeholders a clear picture of whether a big project is on track.

Key Takeaways

  • Create an epic by going to your project, clicking Create, and selecting Epic as the issue type instead of Story or Task.
  • Give your epic a clear name that describes the end goal, not the work itself — "Improve payment processing" instead of "Update payment code".
  • Link stories and tasks to your epic by editing each one and setting its Epic Link field to the epic you created.
  • Track epic progress in the Backlog view, where Jira shows you how many child issues are done and how many remain.
  • Use the Epic Board to see all stories tied to one epic across sprints, making it easier to spot bottlenecks.

Creating an Epic From the Create Issue Dialog

The fastest way to create an epic is through Jira's standard Create dialog. Click the Create button (usually at the top left of your project), and a form appears. In the Issue Type field, scroll down and select Epic instead of Story or Task.

Fill in the Summary field with a clear, goal-focused name. "Redesign user onboarding" works better than "Fix onboarding screens" because it tells readers what the epic achieves, not just what you're changing. Add a Description if your team needs more context about why this epic exists or what success looks like.

Assign the epic to a team member if your workflow requires it, then click Create. Jira generates an epic key — something like PROJ-42 — that you'll use to link stories to it.

Linking Stories and Tasks to Your Epic

Creating the epic is only the first step. You then need to tell Jira which stories belong to it. Open any story or task you want to add, and look for the Epic Link field. Click it and search for your epic by name or key. Select it, and that story is now part of the epic.

You can also bulk-link stories. In your Backlog view, select multiple stories at once, then use the Tools menu to set their Epic Link in one action. This is much faster if you have ten or twenty stories to organize.

Stories linked to an epic stay linked even if they move between sprints. If a story gets moved to a future sprint, it still counts toward the epic's total progress.

Viewing Epic Progress in the Backlog

Once you've linked stories to an epic, go to your project's Backlog view. Epics appear as collapsible sections, and each one shows a progress bar. The bar fills as stories move to Done, giving you a visual sense of how close the epic is to completion.

Click the arrow next to an epic name to expand it and see all its child stories at once. This view is useful for sprint planning — you can drag stories from the epic into upcoming sprints, and Jira keeps track of which ones are scheduled and which are still waiting.

The progress bar updates automatically as your team marks stories Done. There's no manual updating required.

Using the Epic Board to Track Work Across Sprints

The Epic Board is a dedicated view that shows all stories tied to one epic, organized by their status (To Do, In Progress, Done). You access it by clicking on an epic name from the Backlog, then selecting the Board tab.

This view is especially useful when an epic spans multiple sprints. Instead of jumping between sprint boards, you see everything related to that epic in one place. You can drag stories between columns to update their status, just like on a regular sprint board.

The Epic Board also shows you which sprint each story belongs to, so you can spot if work is unevenly distributed or if one sprint is overloaded with epic work.

Organizing Epics Into Larger Initiatives

If your organization uses Jira's Portfolio feature, you can group multiple epics into a single Initiative or Program. This is useful for very large projects that span many epics — like a complete product redesign that includes redesigning checkout, payments, and user accounts as separate epics.

To do this, you need Portfolio for Jira, which is a separate add-on. If your team has it, you'll see a Portfolio menu in your project. From there, you can create initiatives and drag epics into them. The same progress-tracking logic applies — Portfolio shows you how many epics are done and how many remain.

If your team doesn't use Portfolio, epics alone are usually enough. You can always create a parent epic and link other epics to it using the Epic Link field, though this is less common.

Common Mistakes When Creating Epics

The most common mistake is making epics too small. If an epic finishes in one sprint, it's probably a story, not an epic. Epics should represent work that takes at least two or three sprints, or work that spans multiple teams.

Another mistake is creating epics with vague names. "Backend work" or "Improvements" don't tell anyone what the epic is actually for. Spend a minute writing a clear summary — it saves confusion later when someone asks what an epic is supposed to deliver.

A third mistake is forgetting to link stories to the epic. If you create an epic but never add stories to it, it sits empty and useless. Make linking stories part of your sprint planning routine.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I create an epic from the Backlog view instead of the Create dialog?

Yes. In the Backlog view, look for a button or option to create an epic directly — the exact label varies by Jira version, but it's usually near the top of the Backlog panel. This creates the epic and keeps you in the Backlog view so you can immediately start linking stories to it.

What happens to an epic if I delete all the stories linked to it?

The epic itself remains. It just becomes empty. You can delete the epic manually if it's no longer needed, or leave it as a record of work that was planned but never started. Deleting an epic does not delete the stories — they just lose their epic link.

Can I link an epic to another epic?

In standard Jira, epics are the top level of organization, so you cannot nest them. If you need to group multiple epics together, use Portfolio for Jira or create a parent issue of a different type and link epics to it as child issues.

Does an epic have to be in a sprint?

No. Epics exist at the project level and are not assigned to sprints. The stories and tasks inside an epic are what get assigned to sprints. This is why epics can span multiple sprints — the epic itself floats above the sprint schedule.

How do I know when an epic is done?

An epic is done when all its linked stories are marked Done. Jira shows this in the progress bar — when it reaches 100 percent, the epic is complete. Some teams also close the epic manually to mark it as officially finished, though this is optional.