Please clarify the difference between Epic Vs Category

samantha_sharkov April 29, 2023

Please clarify the difference between Epic Vs Category

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Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
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April 29, 2023

We need a bit more detail.

Epic is usually the layer above issue - an Epic contains a collection of issues.

Category is a lot more vague - project category, issue category or epic category?

Trudy Claspill
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May 1, 2023

Category might be a reference to the Category field that is a built-in field for Work Management issues.

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Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
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May 1, 2023

True, that's a fourth category to ask about!

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samantha_sharkov May 1, 2023

I believe @Trudy Claspill is correct. It is a field appearing in the List View of the Work Management board. jira 4.jpg

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
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May 1, 2023

Ok, great, we can clarify that.

Epics and Categories have a similar reason to exist - they are for grouping issues together for some reason.

Where they differ is that Epics are primarily an Agile artefact, used for grouping together a large pile of stories from across your entire issue tracking system(s), all the stories that need to be considered together to achieve a single goal (yes, they should span systems when you've not yet managed to get everyone on to the same one properly)

Categories are much the same - you're grouping things together because they have a strong relationship.  But, not because they are part of the same goal, more because they have a lot in common.

To use a recent example and hugely over-simplify:

  • Epic: Organise Team-23
  • Category: Team events

The Epic can now be closed, people have attended, survived, suffered Team-'flu, done the work on contacting leads and and and.  But it's still in the same category as the last 20 Team events.

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samantha_sharkov May 2, 2023

Excellent example, @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- ! Thank you very much. With Epics, I can go to any Epic view and see all the related issues. With Category, there is no way to do the same in Jira Work Management, correct?

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
Community Leader
Community Leader
Community Leaders are connectors, ambassadors, and mentors. On the online community, they serve as thought leaders, product experts, and moderators.
May 2, 2023

Correct, the category is more like a field than an Epic grouping.  So while there's no "show me this category", you can of course search for it - JQL (and the basic search, and a lot of the reports) let you say "list the issues in this category".

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