Manage epics and initiatives

You will learn how to create epics, assign issues to epics, group epics into initiatives, and review rollup progress.

Before you begin, read Epics, initiatives, milestones and versions.

1. Decide whether you need an epic

Create an epic when several issues contribute to one outcome.

An epic is useful when you need to:

Track progress across multiple issues.
Keep implementation tasks connected to one outcome.
Review remaining work and points.
Link related bugs, stories, and tasks.
Explain status to teammates or stakeholders.

Do not create an epic just because a single issue is large. Split the work only when the child issues can move independently.

2. Create an epic

Open the project where the outcome belongs.
Choose New issue.
Set Type to Epic.
Write a clear title for the outcome.
Add description, acceptance criteria, links, and context.
Set priority, status, assignee, labels, dates, and estimate if useful.
If the epic belongs to a broader program, set Initiative.
Select Create issue.

Epics have issue keys, comments, attachments, activity, and status like other issues.

3. Assign issues to an epic

When creating or editing a non-epic issue:

Open the Epic field.
Search for the epic.
Select the epic, or choose No epic to remove the assignment.
Save the issue.

The epic picker only allows same-project epics. If the issue is itself an epic, the field is disabled and reads Epics cannot nest.

4. Review the Epics page

Open Epics from the workspace navigation.

Use the toolbar to narrow the list:

Choose Project to show All projects, the current project, or another project.
Toggle No epic to include issues that are not assigned to an epic.
Toggle Hide completed to focus on active work.
Use Sort epics to change ordering.

When viewing all projects with custom ascending sort, drag epics to reorder them.

5. Open an epic rollup

Open an epic from the Epics page.

Review:

The epic title and description.
The progress bar and color legend.
Issues in scope.
Child issue status, priority, assignee, labels, estimates, and project keys.
History for activity on the epic.

Use filters and sort to focus on open, blocked, overdue, unassigned, or high-priority child issues.

6. Use the No epic rollup

Turn on No epic from the Epics toolbar to find ungrouped work.

Use this view during backlog cleanup:

Filter to the project or workspace slice you care about.
Review unassigned-to-epic issues.
Assign issues that belong under existing epics.
Create new epics only when a real outcome is missing.
Leave standalone work without an epic when grouping does not add value.

7. Create an initiative

Use an initiative when multiple epics contribute to a broader workspace outcome.

Open Initiatives.
Select New initiative.
Enter a Name.
Select Create.

The initiatives list shows each initiative's epic count and progress.

8. Add epics to an initiative

Open the initiative detail page.

Use Add epic.
Choose an epic from Select epic.
Select Add.

The Epics in initiative list updates with the added epic. Use Remove to detach an epic from the initiative.

You can also assign an epic to an initiative from the epic issue create/edit form by setting Initiative.

9. Review an initiative

Use initiative review for cross-project or multi-epic planning.

Check:

Does every epic still support the initiative goal?
Which epics have little or no progress?
Which epics are done and can be closed or moved out?
Are there epics in the wrong project or missing from the initiative?
Does the initiative still need all listed epics?

10. Keep epics healthy

During regular planning:

Keep epic titles outcome-focused.
Keep child issues small enough to move independently.
Remove child issues that no longer belong.
Use comments or History to explain major scope changes.
Close or cancel epics when the outcome is complete or no longer planned.