Representing a product feature with Epics

Question

We are using Epics to represent large chunks of work (as they are meant to be used).

But I find it hard to understand what will be the best why to represent the entire feature.

For instance: Sales asks Engineering to add a certain integration to a 3rd party platform (lets call it Feature X). They needs Feature X to be ready by end of year.

Engineering breaks the feature into 3 epics (develop a new service, develop an administration page, develop the integration module).

How do I use Jira to represent the actual feature, its description, design, release etc

and also be able to gather stats about the feature (number of bugs per feature etc)?

Gilad Breslauer · Answer

Thank you Timothy,

As I wrote in my original post, today we use epics to represent large chunk of work (not necessarily an entire feature). A feature might span over more then one release and/or across different development teams. So we have different epics to represent parts of the entire feature. This makes it hard to track the status of the whole feature as there is no entity to describe the feature itself.

Either we use epics in a wrong way or there is another simple solution we can use.

Surly there are other with the same "problem".

Timothy · Answer

How do I use Jira to represent the actual feature, its description, design, release etc

You've already answered your question. The Epic represents the umbrella feature that you want to implement. You product owner will then break the epic down into stories and associate it to the epics. You then of course start working on it in sprints.

and also be able to gather stats about the feature (number of bugs per feature etc)?

For this part, you'd be using the search functionality in Jira to find the answers:

* https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-questions/How-to-search-issues-from-specific-Sprint/qaq-p/243625
* https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-questions/Function-in-JQL-for-current-sprint/qaq-p/45751

You can also find more search functions or more apps to complement your Jira in the marketplace.