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Plan and prioritise · Core

Break the work into epics and a backlog

Turn the first release into a backlog the team can work from: a few large epics, each broken into smaller items, in priority order. A good backlog makes progress visible and planning easy.

About 1-3 daysEvergreenLast reviewed 5 November 2026

Who this applies to

Skills it builds
Delivery and executionPrioritisation and roadmapping
PM types
All
Product types
All
Starting points
All
Ways of working
All
Experience
All
Size of organisation
All

Steps, by experience

Beginner (under 1 year)

  1. Take each part of the first release and make it an epic, a large piece of work with a clear goal.
  2. Break each epic into smaller items that deliver something a user or the team can see.
  3. Write a short title and a sentence of context for each item. Detail comes later.
  4. Put the items in priority order, with the riskiest and most valuable near the top.
  5. Mark dependencies between items and on other teams.
  6. Review the backlog with the team and agree who keeps it tidy.

Intermediate (1 to 4 years)

  1. Create epics for each part of the release, each with a goal and measure.
  2. Split epics into small, valuable items and order them by value and risk.
  3. Mark dependencies and link items to the product brief.
  4. Agree backlog ownership and a refinement rhythm.

Experienced (5+ years)

  1. Structure the backlog around outcomes, so every item traces to a goal.
  2. Keep only the next few weeks detailed; leave later work at epic level.
  3. Expose cross-team dependencies early and agree them with the other teams.
  4. Regularly prune items that no longer serve the goal.

Who can do this

Owner: Product manager

Can be delegated to

  • Product Owner: Create and order the backlog items
  • Business Analyst: Break epics into items and capture details
  • Tech Lead: Identify technical items and dependencies

Reviewed by: Tech Lead, Delivery Manager

Tool examples

Jira
Create epics, link stories to them and use the backlog view to drag items into order.
Azure DevOps
Use features and user stories under epics, and order them on the backlog board.
Linear
Use projects for epics and keep the issue list ordered by priority.
Trello
Use one list per epic and order cards from top to bottom by priority.
Claude
Paste the product brief and ask it to suggest epics and a first breakdown, then refine it with the team.

Definition of done

  • Epics created for the first release, each with a goal
  • Epics broken into smaller items and ordered by priority
  • Dependencies marked and backlog owner agreed

Common pitfalls

  • Writing detailed items for work months away
  • Splitting work by technical layer instead of user value
  • A backlog so long nobody can see the priorities

If you lead the team

What good looks like: Backlogs are organised around a few epics tied to outcomes, with the top items ready to build.

Ask your PM

  • How does the backlog link to our outcomes?
  • Is the next sprint's work ready?

Warning signs

  • The backlog is a long, unsorted list of requests.
  • The team often waits for work to be ready.

Do these first

Sources