A person at a desk interacts with a digital interface displaying workflow charts and boxes labeled "Epic Templates," "Quick-Edit," "Pre-Made Templates," and "Team Automation." Graphs and icons surround the scene, emphasizing efficiency and organization.

How to Reuse and Be More Efficient in Project Management with Epic Template

By: Hajime Estanislao, PMP, CSM; Editor: Geram Lompon; Reviewed by: Dr. Michael J. Shick, MSPM, PMP, CSM

Are you reinventing the wheel every time you start a new project? Managing large tasks, relevant stakeholders, aligning teams, and delivering consistent outcomes can be overwhelming without a solid framework. It is amplified when your team spends valuable time recreating processes from scratch.

Imagine a world where your projects run smoother, your teams work more efficiently, and you never miss a critical step – because you have a well-established set of templates guiding your efforts. Epic templates in Agile project management offer a solution.

By reusing and recycling knowledge assets from previous projects, you can streamline work, save time, and focus on innovation instead of administrative tasks.

Epic templates help break down complex projects into manageable tasks, estimate effort with story points, set clear goals, and align everyone—from developers to stakeholders. Whether building software, improving healthcare or streamlining operations, these templates focus on delivering value. Tools like Jira or Confluence support knowledge management, allowing your template library to grow with your team’s evolving understanding and become a dynamic resource for continuous improvement.

Do not let inefficiencies slow down your projects. Start building your epic template bank and empower your user stories and teams to deliver faster, more consistently, and with less effort.

What is a Template?

A template is a reusable structure designed to efficiently organize information, tasks, or processes. It provides consistency by acting as a blueprint so users don’t start from scratch every time. Templates are used across various domains, from document formatting to project workflows, helping standardize processes and boost productivity.

What is an Epic Template?

When adopting an Agile methodology, an epic template is a structured documentation used to define and manage epics consistently across different projects. An epic is a large body of work divided into smaller user stories. By using a template, teams can standardize how they create, track, and measure epics, ensuring elements such as goals, success metrics, and all your user stories are included in creating epics.

In hybrid models, an epic template helps bridge the gap between flexible Agile iterations and more structured, linear approaches used in frameworks like Waterfall.

Like traditional project management, Agile templates standardize documentation, risk management, and tracking processes. Epic templates help organize large tasks or milestones, keeping them aligned with timelines and goals while allowing flexibility throughout the project lifecycle.

Epic templates are valuable because they offer a repeatable, organized way to handle complex projects or a user story that enables teams to stay aligned, track progress, and respond to changes effectively, regardless of the management approach.

Reasons You Need to Reuse and Recycle Agile Epics Templates

Reusing and recycling knowledge assets from previous and concurrent projects is invaluable. It accelerates project timelines, minimizes redundant work, and ensures consistent quality across deliverables.

By reusing epic templates or other assets, product managers and project teams can focus more on innovation and problem-solving rather than recreating frameworks from scratch. This approach allows teams to leverage past experiences and apply best practices to future work.

  • Reusing templates can save time. It can also reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks, allowing teams to focus on value-adding activities.
  • Consistency through a standard template ensures epics follow the same structure, improving the clarity and uniformity of project documentation.
  • Reduce errors with a well-established template so there is less chance of missing critical components, which reduces the risk of errors.
  • Templates leverage expertise by incorporating lessons learned, best practices, and customer feedback. It allows teams to build upon existing knowledge.
  • As teams grow and projects become more complex, reusing templates helps scale operations without reinventing processes.
  • Consistent templates make it easier for cross-functional teams to understand and contribute to project planning and execution.

Illustration of people interacting with a large computer screen displaying "Project Templates." Surrounding elements include gears, browser windows, and icons for adding fields, customizing, and saving. It depicts collaborative template design.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Building Your Shareable Templates

Building a shareable template bank allows your Agile teams to streamline work, collaborate better, and ensure project consistency. A well-organized library of templates gives everyone quick access to reusable resources. Below is a step-by-step guide to help you create and maintain a shareable template bank for the agile development teams in your organization.

1. Catalog the Past

Before building your template bank, gather and review all previously used project materials, including epics, end-user feedback, grouping user stories, and other Agile documents. This step involves conducting a comprehensive audit of past projects to identify reusable components that could serve as templates.

  • Review past project repositories and documentation.
  • Identify common structures or processes to standardize.
  • Select templates that have proven successful across multiple projects.

A colorful illustration of a customizable template interface with various options like adjustable fields, drag-and-drop features, and style settings. Includes graphical elements like charts, gears, and a hand using a pen. Text reads "Template Customization.

2. Customize for Versatility

Not all projects are the same, for example, so it is essential to customize the hierarchical structure of your templates to make them versatile. A template should be adaptable to various project types while maintaining a core structure that supports consistency.

  • Include optional fields or modular sections that can be adjusted as needed.
  • Simplify complex elements within the template, which is applied across different contexts.
  • Ensure the template covers core aspects such as goals, success metrics, and user stories but leaves flexibility for project-specific requirements.

Illustration of a digital workflow system featuring computers, charts, and graphics connected to a central hub. People collaborate at desks in the bottom corners. Icons for search, templates, and organization are depicted above.

3. Centralize and Organize

Once you have selected and customized all your new user stories and templates, it is time to centralize them in a shareable location. A well-organized repository ensures easy access and collaboration among team members.

  • Choose a collaboration platform or project management tool like Jira, Confluence, or SharePoint.
  • Create a folder or workspace dedicated to templates and categorize them by project type or phase (e.g., epic templates, user story templates, sprint planning templates).
  • Ensure access permissions are in place so relevant teams can easily retrieve and use templates without barriers.

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4. Keep It Fresh

A template bank is not static – it evolves. Regularly updating your templates ensures they stay relevant to new project methodologies, tools, and team members’ feedback.

  • Schedule quarterly reviews to ensure templates are updated based on project outcomes and evolving Agile practices.
  • Encourage team feedback to improve template usefulness.
  • Retire outdated templates and replace them with more efficient or streamlined versions.

Illustration of a digital workspace featuring people at desks, a large screen displaying "Templic," and icons for best practices, knowledge management, sharing, and updates. Shelves and documents are in the background.

Considerations For Successfully Using Epic Templates and Sustaining through Knowledge Management

While epic templates provide a structure for consistency, flexibility, and efficiency, their success hinges on effective knowledge management. Epic templates should not be static but rather part of a living, evolving knowledge repository. Ensure lessons learned from past projects are coursed back into the template bank, making the templates more robust and relevant over time.

Regular updates based on real-world project outcomes and user feedback ensure the templates remain adaptable and aligned with changing organizational and customer needs throughout.

Incorporating knowledge management into your template strategy ensures long-term sustainability. Capturing insights from past projects and documenting best practices helps refine epic templates over time. Easy access to shared knowledge prevents duplication and fosters collaboration across teams. Tools like Confluence, SharePoint, or internal wikis are repositories for templates and the supporting knowledge needed to use them effectively, promoting continuous learning and improvement.

Promote continuous improvement. Teams should be encouraged to contribute to the development team and template bank by sharing insights, tweaking templates based on new project needs, and documenting innovations. It ensures that epic templates do not just serve immediate projects but also evolve to support future initiatives, aligning with the dynamic nature of Agile development.

Epics in Agile project management should be integrated with knowledge management by embedding structured processes that capture, store, and reuse project knowledge across teams and iterations. Here’s how these two concepts can synergize:

Capturing Lessons Learned Through Epics

Epics often span multiple sprints and involve significant collaboration. Throughout the development of an epic, teams gather valuable insights about what worked well and what didn’t. By integrating knowledge management practices, these lessons can be captured and stored. Each epic becomes a repository of information, including solutions to technical challenges, the customer experience, feedback, and refined processes. It allows future projects to leverage past experiences.

Creating Reusable Knowledge Assets

When templates are used to create epics, they become reusable knowledge assets across similar projects. For example, an epic template to improve patient intake processes can be used again in future projects with minor modifications. Knowledge management ensures the templates and their associated best practices remain accessible and current.

An illustration of a collaborative workspace with people using laptops and tablets. Charts, graphs, gears, and icons symbolize teamwork, data analysis, and communication. A "Shared Documents" section highlights collaborative tools.

Facilitating Cross-Team Collaboration

Knowledge management systems ensure that epic-related information is not siloed. By connecting epics to centralized knowledge repositories such as Confluence or SharePoint, teams can share insights and access past epic details, improving collaboration and preventing redundant efforts. When epics span multiple teams, having a well-managed knowledge base helps ensure everyone has access to the same information and resources.

Tracking and Updating Epics

As teams complete epics, tracking progress through knowledge management tools ensures the information remains current. Future epics can benefit from the continuous improvement cycle inherent in knowledge management, where feedback from completed projects updates the existing knowledge base. It creates a dynamic system where epics are not just task lists but also evolving sources of organizational knowledge.

In essence, combining epics in Agile project management with knowledge management practices ensures that teams can consistently build on past work, create efficiencies, and foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement.

Illustration of a business team using software to manage Agile Epics. Features a large monitor displaying graphs and charts, surrounded by people working with digital devices in an office setting, with a backdrop of progress tracking visuals.

Taking it to the Next Level: Adopt Software to Manage and Track Agile Epics

Optimizing epic templates with project management software boosts efficiency. Tools like Jira, Wrike, and Asana offer structured environments to create, track, and update epics seamlessly. They provide customizable templates, link epics to user stories, set priorities, and visualize progress through dashboards and reports. This streamlines project management, offering the visibility and control that manual tracking lacks.

Project management software enhances collaboration by allowing multiple teams to access and modify epics in real time, ensuring that knowledge is shared across departments. With built-in automation features, these product management tools can automatically update existing customers and stakeholders on epic progress.

The software enhances the creation and management of epics while strengthening knowledge management. These tools store historical data, making it easy to reuse and refine templates. They drive continuous improvement through analytics and team feedback. This technology-driven approach supports scalability and growth, elevating project management processes in an Agile environment.

Illustration depicting a winding path labeled "User Stories," leading to a glowing destination. Includes a person, chart with an upward trend, truck, gears, plants, and an open book titled "Your Story," symbolizing progress and goal achievement.

Wrapping Up: Your Story, a user story.

In Agile project management, using templates and knowledge banks is not a matter of debate. It is a necessity for the management efficiency, consistency, and scalability of an agile team. Epic templates provide a structured, reusable framework that reduces redundancy, improves collaboration, and addresses goals and success metrics. By establishing a knowledge repository that evolves with feedback and past experiences, teams can leverage collective wisdom to drive continuous improvement.

Adopting project management software like Confluence or Jira further enhances your capabilities by offering a centralized platform to store, update, and share templates. These tools enable real-time collaboration and automation. By embracing templates, knowledge banks, and the right software, you set your projects and team up for success.

A colorful infographic titled "Example Scenarios of Agile Epics" with illustrations and icons depicting various stages, like launching new features, improving user experience, and optimizing performance.

Bonus: Agile Epic Example Scenarios

Here are examples of epic templates that can be used in healthcare projects, software development, and process improvement opportunities in operations:

Healthcare Project Epic Template

Epic Name: Improve Patient Intake Process

Description: This epic aims to streamline patient intake, reduce wait times, and improve data accuracy in healthcare facilities.

Objective – reduce patient intake time by 20% within six months while increasing data accuracy.

Writing User Stories

As a receptionist, I want an automated system for inputting patient information to reduce manual data entry errors.

As a patient, I want to complete my intake forms online before my appointment to minimize wait times.

As a nurse, I want easy access to the patient’s medical history so that I can provide better care without delays.

Success Metrics: Reduction of wait times, improved patient satisfaction scores, and reduced data entry errors by 10%.

In this example, there are two epics: one focused on reducing patient intake time and the other on improving data accuracy. Each epic has six user stories. These user stories can be further divided into smaller tasks that are executed within sprints, though the breakdown of tasks for sprints is not shown here. It is recommended to display those details separately, perhaps in sprint guides or scrum execution documents.

Healthcare Project – Improvement Patient Intake Process

Project Manager

Sprints

Dates

Team Members

Epic objective: Streamline patient intake, reduce wait times, and improve data accuracy in healthcare facilities. Within 6 months time frame, reduce patient intake time by 20% and improve data accuracy in healthcare databases.

Reduce patient intake time by 20%

Increase data accuracy

User Story

User Story

User Story

User Story

User Story

User Story

User Story

User Story

User Story

User Story

User Story

User Story

Note: This template is flexible and can be resized depending on the number of user stories associated with each epic. It is designed to demonstrate the process of breaking down epics into multiple user stories.

Software Development Epic Template

Epic Name: Launch Mobile Banking App

Description: This epic involves an app development team building a new mobile banking app to enhance customer experiences and provide a secure and user-friendly interface for transactions.

Objective – develop and launch a new mobile app for secure banking transactions end users, targeting a user base of 100,000 within six months.

Writing User Stories

As a user, I want biometric authentication to securely log in without remembering a password.

As a bank customer, I want to transfer money between accounts to manage my finances efficiently.

As a customer support agent, I want a real-time alert system for transaction issues to assist customers immediately.

Success Metrics: App store ratings above 4.5 stars, 10% month-over-month user growth, 99% app uptime.

Infographic titled "Process Improvement Epic Template" featuring gears, charts, and icons representing concepts like cycle control, quality control, resource allocation, and teamwork, with illustrated people collaborating in an office setting.

Process Improvement in Operations Epic Template

Epic Name: Optimize Supply Chain Logistics

Description: This epic seeks to enhance the supply chain logistics of a manufacturing company, improving delivery times and reducing shipping costs.

Objective: Improve supply chain efficiency by optimizing routes and reducing shipping costs by 15% over the next year.

Writing User Stories

As a logistics manager, I want real-time shipment tracking to provide accurate delivery timelines to clients.

As a warehouse manager, I want an automated inventory system to track stock levels to avoid delays due to stockouts.

As a delivery driver, I want optimized routing software to minimize delivery times and reduce fuel consumption.

Success Metrics: Reduced delivery times by 20%, decreased fuel costs by 10%, and increased on-time deliveries by 15%.

These epic templates provide structured frameworks for managing complex projects in healthcare, software development, and operational improvements. They allow senior management teams to efficiently break down tasks into manageable components and align them with organizational goals.

References

Exner, K. (2024, February 29). What is an agile epic? Best practices, template & example. The Product Manager. Retrieved from https://theproductmanager.com/topics/agile-epic/

Rehkopf, M. (2024). Stories, epics, and initiatives. Atlassian. Retrieved October 2024, from https://www.atlassian.com/agile/project-management/epics-stories-themes

Zhezherau, A. (2024). A complete guide to agile epics. Wrike. Retrieved October 2024, from https://www.wrike.com

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