Skip to main content

Can EPICS be used to track Releases??

Last post 06:36 pm January 8, 2018 by Charles Bradley
4 replies
03:59 pm December 28, 2017

Hi All,

In the company I work we have quarterly releases, on which we deliver X number of user stories. Our sprint time box is two weeks. We need to implement a process on which I am able to know which user stories are being part of a quarterly release. With that in mind, I thought of using an EPIC to track the quarterly release, have the features underneath the epic, and then have the user stories which are being delivered within that quarterly release, does this make sense? Anyone has any other idea?

I'm just looking to do some bench marking and see how y'all do it out there and if the idea above makes any sense or not.

Btw, the tool we use is VSTS (Agile Process).

Thank you! 


12:40 am December 30, 2017

What about the iterative delivery of value?


07:35 pm December 30, 2017

The approach you have outlined is not a Scrum implementation since the “sprints” do not yield increments that are ready for release. Instead you have a plan for not releasing in 5 iterations out of 6. Empirical process control is thereby compromised. That’s the issue which needs resolving from an agile perspective.


10:22 pm January 2, 2018

I agree guys, when a quarterly release was brought to us, first thing that came to mind was exactly the iterative delivery. I was trying to at least have some tracking of user stories being delivered within a release, even though I'm aware about the scrum values and being able to deliver a working increment each sprint (iteration). Appreciate the feedback..


06:36 pm January 8, 2018

I believe that VSTS has a better way of tracking releases but I don't know that it is.  In basic Jira, one can use "version" to accomplish that. (You can also use Epic in Jira for that purpose but it then prevents you from using Epic for it's intended purpose).

Caveat:  Original canon on Epics specified an Epic as a really big story.  Current tool usage often implies a hierarchical or container relationship between Epic and Story.  So, the current common usage is in disagreement with the original canon.  I've given up fighting this fight. :-)  (in original User Story canon, a set of related stories was called a Theme, which tools use for other mechanisms now... uggghhhh), 


By posting on our forums you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.

Please note that the first and last name from your Scrum.org member profile will be displayed next to any topic or comment you post on the forums. For privacy concerns, we cannot allow you to post email addresses. All user-submitted content on our Forums may be subject to deletion if it is found to be in violation of our Terms of Use. Scrum.org does not endorse user-submitted content or the content of links to any third-party websites.

Terms of Use

Scrum.org may, at its discretion, remove any post that it deems unsuitable for these forums. Unsuitable post content includes, but is not limited to, Scrum.org Professional-level assessment questions and answers, profanity, insults, racism or sexually explicit content. Using our forum as a platform for the marketing and solicitation of products or services is also prohibited. Forum members who post content deemed unsuitable by Scrum.org may have their access revoked at any time, without warning. Scrum.org may, but is not obliged to, monitor submissions.