Agile story types
In this post, we will define the various types of user stories in the Agile methodology. It's important to understand these before we look at how to use them during the Software Development Lifecycle since they are the foundation of the methodology. Understanding how to use these will enable leaders and developers to deliver the highest quality of work.
Epic
One of the definitions that describes an Epic comes from scrum.org: “A user story or requirement which aggregates multiple other such items in a way which gives them coherence”, (Gross Definitions: 144 Agile Terms You Simply Have To Know, https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/gross-definitions-144-agile-terms-you-simply-have-know)
An Epic is the highest level of User Story in any product.
Feature
A feature is a requirement that is specific to a product and delivers a solution to meeting the need of an end user. Feature development might require multiple Sprints to reach completion.
User Story
A User Story is used to describe a component that will be developed, and who it will be consumed by. In general, these follow the example format “As a consumer of the API, I would like to receive responses with http status codes”.
Sprint Tasks
These are the specific tasks necessary to achieve the completion of a well-defined and fully groomed user story. A User Story usually will require several tasks for it to be considered done.
Conclusion
Notice that the term “product” is used throughout these definitions. The Agile methodology is a product development process that promotes continuous development. Agile is not a project management tool that reaches an end. The continuous work effort done in Sprints, is what allows Agile teams to respond to changes in requirements quickly. The Agile methodology includes a release plan that will target dates for shipping a releasable subset of work from Sprints.