What’s the Difference Between Jira Epic vs Story vs Task, And When to Use Each of Them
Epics, stories, and tasks are the core building blocks in Jira - but they’re not interchangeable. Each plays a different role in planning, organizing, and tracking work. When used correctly, they help your team prioritize efforts, break down big goals into actionable steps, and stay aligned.
In this guide, we’ll discuss what makes each work type unique and when to use them. You’ll also find here real-life examples and practical tips for managing these work types in Jira.
An Epic as the Highest Hierarchy Level in Jira
An epic represents a large, goal-driven body of work that’s broken down into smaller parts - typically stories, tasks, or bugs. It brings together related items under a shared objective, making it easier to manage complex initiatives. Each work item inside an agile epic can be assigned to a different team member, allowing people to work on separate parts of a larger project at the same time.
Example of an Epic
Imagine you’re preparing to launch a new website. The project brings together multiple teams - designers working on the layout, writers preparing the copy, developers building the site, and QAs running tests. In Jira, this entire effort can be organized as an epic. Each major step, like writing content or implementing the design, is added as a separate task within that epic.
Here’s another case. In the visual below, you can see the epic called “Publish the app to the App Store.” It brings together multiple tasks that the team must finish before the app can go live. These include “Set up App Store Connect,” “Add app metadata,” and similar steps.
Each task is separate, but all of them contribute to the same goal - getting the app published. In this case, the tasks also include checklists to break the work into smaller, manageable actions. We’ll cover checklists in more detail later in this tutorial.
A Story as a Way to Determine Value For the User
Stories, or user stories, describe features from the user’s point of view. They focus on how a product will solve a real need or add value. In Jira, stories are smaller work items that are typically located under an epic. Each one represents a benefit that the user can clearly see and test. A typical story begins with a sentence that explains what the user wants to do and why.
In product development, Scrum teams aim to keep each story small enough to finish within one sprint. If a story is too large, it’s broken down into several smaller stories. The effort required to complete a story is estimated with story points, where one point equals roughly two hours of work. A story with 21 points is considered large - it will likely take the full sprint to finish.
Example of a Story
The screenshot below shows what a typical Story can look like:
Here’s another example: “As a user of an employment management platform, I need access to the vertical view of my Employee Dashboard when using the mobile app, so I can easily access the information it contains.”
This follows a common structure for writing user stories: “As a [persona], I want [capability], so that [value].” It’s a simple but effective way to describe user needs. In agile development, this format helps teams stay focused on delivering real value and taking into account the user perspective. It gives product teams clarity and keeps their work aligned with what users actually care about, which is the key principle of the agile methodology.
A Task as a Go-to Option For Any Work That Needs to be Done
In software development, a task is often a specific piece of work required to complete a story. In a broader sense, it can be any action that needs to be done. Tasks can belong to an epic or stand on their own, depending on how the work is structured.
Example of a Task
Think back to the earlier example - the story about adding a vertical view to the Employee Dashboard. To deliver that feature, the team needs to complete several tasks: design the layout, write the code, and test the update before release. Each of these steps can be tracked as a separate Jira task within the same epic.
Here’s another example. The marketing team is planning a Black Friday campaign, and so they created an epic to manage it. Inside that epic, they add tasks like designing social media ads, creating banners for partner sites, and building a landing page. Each of these steps is tracked as a separate Jira task.
A Subtask as a Part of a Task or Story
A subtask is a smaller piece of work that lives inside a task or story. It breaks down the parent item into manageable steps, each with its own description, assignee, and reporter. In agile project management, subtasks are useful when multiple people need to work on different parts of the same story or task.
A Subtask is a child work item representing a smaller fragment of work inside a larger Task or Story. Parent work items can have multiple Subtasks - each with its own description, assignee, and reporter.
Example of a Subtask
For example, here, the main task is “Prepare for the IT conference.” All the related actions can be added as subtasks. For instance, designing merchandise, printing materials, and scheduling prep meetings.
Subtasks can be helpful, but they also come with limitations. When tasks include too many subtasks, the structure can get hard to manage. If you’re working with an epic that contains several tasks and each task has its own set of subtasks, you’ll need to dig through three levels just to find key information in the subtask descriptions.
In these situations, using a checklist is often a better choice. It keeps all the details in one place, clearly visible from the task or story view - no extra clicks or digging required.
A Checklist as a Way To Templatize Recurring Tasks And Processes
A checklist is a structured list of steps to complete within a task, story, or epic. It’s ideal for multi-step processes where tracking details is critical. You can add a checklist to any work item in Jira and even to a subtask.
Example of a Checklist
In the screenshot below, you can see a reusable template created by Smart Checklist for Jira. It documents the standard steps for the recruitment process:
Since there are dozens of steps organized under multiple sections, creating a separate subtask for each one isn’t practical. Adding a multi-step Checklist is much simpler and easier. It gives the development team a granular view of the steps to complete and requires just a few clicks to set up.
Checklists help agile teams stay organized and work more efficiently. They make it easy to document complex processes in a clear, structured way. Teams also use checklist templates to maintain quality and follow internal standards. One common example is the Definition of Done checklist:
It helps developers ensure that their work meets all the requirements and quality standards. This DoD checklist is available as a free template.
How to Add Checklists to Jira Work Items
- Install Smart Checklist for Jira from the Atlassian Marketplace.
- Prepare the list of steps to complete. In the Smart Checklist section of your Jira work item, type or paste the list of steps for your checklist. Alternatively, you can copy and paste one of the Checklist templates for Agile teams, such as the Definition of Done checklist, Definition of Ready Checklist, Code Review Checklist, or Sprint Planning Checklist.
- Adjust the checklist using the Markdown editor. Smart Checklist allows you to organize your checklist using rich formatting. For example, to add headers, include extra details for each ToDo item, or use bulleted lists.
In particular, you can:
- Edit and reorder steps
- Apply various formatting
- Organize content with headers
- Tag team members
- Set deadlines
- Mark steps as mandatory
- Assign custom statuses for each step
- Add external links or images
- Use emojis for quick visual cues
- Link related Jira work items (Jira issues)
- Add extra context in expandable fields within each item
For example, here’s how to add details to an individual step in your checklist:
The result is a well-organized, information-rich checklist with all the context you need for work: links to useful resources, deadlines, people to contact, and detailed step-by-step instructions. You can create such a checklist once for any recurring task or process and reuse it whenever necessary, without the need to start from scratch.
To save your checklist as a template, open the Smart Checklist menu (three dots in the top right corner) and select the save option.
Jira Work Item Hierarchy: Epic vs Story vs Task, And Beyond
In Jira’s default hierarchy, the epic occupies the highest level. Right below are located stories, tasks, and bugs - all on the same level, i.e., equal to each other in terms of Jira work hierarchy. Subtasks are placed one step lower and can belong to either a story or a task.
Here’s how that structure looks:
Epic → Story / Task / Bug → Sub-task
Let’s look at a quick example that includes each of these work types:
- Epic:
- Story A
- Sub‑task A1
- Sub‑task A2
- Story B
- Task C
- Task D
- Sub‑task D1
- Story A
When there are too many subtasks, the hierarchy can become cluttered, overly complex, and difficult to navigate. To avoid this, consider using checklists instead of subtasks.
Checklists let you outline dozens of steps and view them directly within a task, story, or epic - no extra configuration required. You can simply type or paste the list into the work item. In contrast, with subtasks, each item must be created separately and its details filled out individually. This takes much more time and effort.
When using checklists instead of subtasks, the same hierarchy becomes simpler and easier to read. Here’s how it may look:
- Epic:
- Story A + checklist
- Story B
- Task C
- Task D + checklist
As you can see, it’s more lightweight and easier to navigate. A checklist’s place in the hierarchy is flexible, as it can be a part of any work item.
A Comparison Table for Jira Epic vs Story vs Task vs Subtask: Key Differences at a Glance
|
Work Type |
Definition |
Timeframe / Scope |
Hierarchy Level |
Purpose |
|
Epic |
A large body of work that can be broken down into multiple stories or tasks |
Can take a long time to complete - for example, several sprints |
Top level |
Tracks large features, functionality development, or various other outcomes across teams. Serves as an overarching goal for multiple tasks and/or stories; groups smaller work items within a large project. Epics are also the basic building blocks of a product roadmap. |
|
Story |
A user-focused requirement, expressed as “As a [user], I want [capability], so that [value]” |
Typically, it is sized for a single sprint / iteration (usually 2 weeks) |
Under Epic |
Expresses a user need in an intuitively understandable way - as a simple and clear story. Requires deliverables that produce customer-facing value. Essential for user story mapping. |
|
Task |
A work item, usually required to complete an Epic or a Story |
Short-term, typically takes up to several days to complete |
Under Epic |
Supports technical or non-technical work that may not directly deliver user value |
|
Subtask |
A breakdown of a Story or Task into smaller pieces of work |
A small scope, which can take from a couple of hours to a couple of days |
Child of a Story or Task |
Manages detailed steps within a parent issue |
|
Checklist |
A list of specific criteria, steps, or quality checks added within a work item |
Completed within the lifecycle of the parent work item |
Under the work item it belongs to - Task, Story, Bug, Epic, or a custom work type |
Organizes multi-step processes, documents them in the form of reusable templates |
The Most Common Use Cases For Utilizing a Jira Epic, Story, or Task
Epic
Use epics to manage large features or cross-functional projects. For example, “Migrate infrastructure to the cloud,” or “Roll out the new employee benefits program.” Epics help you organize related work and keep stakeholders informed. Product owners and Scrum masters often use epics to track progress.
Story
Use stories to capture specific features that deliver value to the end user and can be completed within one sprint. For example: “As an online shopper, I want to save items to a wishlist so I can return to them later.”
Task
Use tasks to plan individual pieces of work that support an epic or stand on their own. For example: “Create login API” or “Prepare Q4 sales report.” Tasks are useful for both technical and non-technical activities that don’t necessarily produce a user-facing benefit.
To get the full picture of how to use Jira Epic vs Story vs Task effectively, it’s also helpful to look at two supporting elements: subtasks and checklists. Each serves a different purpose in structuring and tracking detailed work.
Subtask
Use subtasks to break down work into smaller parts, especially when multiple people are involved or the task has distinct steps. For example: “Write unit tests,” “Prepare deployment script,” or “Design UI mockups.”
Checklist
Add a checklist to manage a multi-step task, or a recurring process with multiple ToDo items or verification steps. E.g., the “Definition of Done Checklist”, “Onboarding a new hire Checklist,” etc. Such lists of pre-planned actionable items are helpful when you need to save time on onboarding and explanations and enable someone to start working on the task right away.
Choosing Between a Jira Epic vs Story vs Task
Each of these Jira work types plays a key role in product management and, in particular, in project planning. Whether you follow Scrum, Kanban, or another method, start by adding epics to your product backlog. They should cover the biggest areas of work and align with your product goals, like introducing major new features. From there, break the epics down into tasks and define specific user needs as stories. Make sure they meet the acceptance criteria and are clear enough for the development team to start working on them.
To map out smaller steps within tasks or stories, use subtasks and checklists. They help you organize the work clearly and make it easier for multiple people to collaborate on the same task. For recurring activities, rely on Smart Checklist templates. They enable you to document best practices in the form of a checklist and reuse them across similar work items.
With Smart Checklist’s native automation feature, checklist templates can be added to the selected work type automatically upon creation. This saves time on planning, promotes standardization, and helps your team maintain the high quality of work.
I hope this guide gave you a clearer view of how to use Jira Epic vs Story vs Task and how each one helps your team stay organized and work more efficiently.
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Olga Cheban _TitanApps_
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