What is a Epic Owner?

Ruben Buijs
5 minutes Aug 10, 2023 Updated on Oct 23, 2024 Product Management

An Epic Owner is responsible for overseeing the development, prioritization, and delivery of large, complex user stories (epics) to ensure they align with the product vision and business objectives.

The role of an Epic Owner is crucial in product management as they are responsible for overseeing and managing the development of epics within a product or project. An epic is a large and complex user story that cannot be completed within a single iteration or sprint. It generally spans multiple sprints and requires coordination with various stakeholders.

Examples

To better understand the role of an Epic Owner, let's consider a few examples:

  • In a software development company, an Epic Owner may be responsible for managing the development of a new feature that requires collaboration between the design, development, and testing teams.
  • In an e-commerce company, an Epic Owner might oversee the development of a new shopping cart functionality that involves integration with payment gateways, inventory management systems, and customer support tools.

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Importance

The role of an Epic Owner is crucial for several reasons:

  1. Alignment of Vision: The Epic Owner ensures that the development of epics aligns with the overall vision and goals of the product or project. They work closely with the product manager and other stakeholders to understand the strategic objectives and translate them into actionable epics.

  2. Coordination and Collaboration: Epics often involve multiple teams and stakeholders. The Epic Owner plays a vital role in coordinating these efforts, ensuring effective collaboration, and resolving any conflicts or dependencies that may arise.

  3. Prioritization and Roadmapping: The Epic Owner helps prioritize epics based on their strategic value, customer needs, and business priorities. They work closely with the product manager to create a roadmap that outlines the sequence and timeline for epic development.

Epic Owner Responsibilities

An Epic Owner is responsible for managing the lifecycle of epics—large, complex user stories that capture significant pieces of functionality within a product. Their key responsibilities include defining the scope of the epic, gathering and refining requirements, and ensuring the epic aligns with the overall product vision and business goals.

Epic Owners work closely with stakeholders to prioritize epics based on value, strategic importance, and technical feasibility. They are also involved in coordinating with cross-functional teams, ensuring that the epic is broken down into smaller, actionable tasks and delivered on time. Additionally, they monitor the progress of the epic, address any roadblocks, and ensure that it contributes to the product’s success and user satisfaction.

Epic Owner vs. Other Owners

The role of an Epic Owner overlaps with other leadership roles, but there are distinct differences in scope and responsibility compared to Product Owners, Product Managers, and Project Managers.

Role Focus Responsibilities
Epic Owner Managing large, complex epics Defines and oversees epics, works with stakeholders to prioritize, and ensures timely delivery.
Product Manager Overall product strategy and vision Manages the product lifecycle, defines product strategy, and aligns the product with market demands.
Product Owner Managing product backlog and user stories Responsible for backlog management, user story definition, and ensuring features align with product goals.
Project Manager Delivery of projects within scope, time, and budget Focuses on project planning, timelines, resources, and ensuring project milestones are met.
  • Epic Owner vs. Product Manager: An Epic Owner focuses on the development and delivery of large epics within the product, while a Product Manager has a broader role, responsible for the overall product strategy, market fit, and long-term roadmap. The Product Manager defines the product vision and works with the Epic Owner to ensure the epics align with the broader goals.

  • Epic Owner vs. Product Owner: While both roles are closely related, the Epic Owner focuses on managing larger, more complex user stories (epics), whereas a Product Owner manages the product backlog, refining and prioritizing individual user stories. The Product Owner often breaks down epics into smaller stories that fit within sprints and collaborates with the Epic Owner to ensure alignment.

  • Epic Owner vs. Project Manager: An Epic Owner focuses on delivering specific epics, ensuring they meet product and business goals. A Project Manager, on the other hand, is responsible for managing the overall project, including timelines, resources, and deliverables, often ensuring multiple epics are completed within a project's scope. While the Epic Owner focuses on what should be delivered, the Project Manager ensures it is delivered on time and within budget.

How to Use It

To effectively use the role of an Epic Owner, consider the following steps:

  1. Understand the Vision: Familiarize yourself with the vision and goals of the product or project. Collaborate with the product manager and other stakeholders to gain a clear understanding of the strategic objectives.

  2. Identify Epics: Work with the product manager and development teams to identify epics that align with the product vision. Epics should be well-defined, measurable, and represent significant value to the end-users.

  3. Coordinate Efforts: Collaborate with various teams, such as design, development, and QA, to ensure smooth coordination and alignment throughout the development process. Regularly communicate and update stakeholders on the progress of epics.

  4. Prioritize and Roadmap: Work closely with the product manager to prioritize epics based on their strategic importance and business value. Create a roadmap that outlines the sequence and timeline for epic development.

  5. Monitor and Evaluate: Continuously monitor the development of epics, track the progress, and evaluate the achieved outcomes. Collect feedback from stakeholders and iterate on the process to improve future epic development.

Useful Tips

Consider these tips to enhance your effectiveness as an Epic Owner:

  • Clear Communication: Ensure effective communication with all stakeholders, including the product manager, development teams, and other relevant parties. Keep everyone informed about the progress, challenges, and changes related to epic development.

  • Collaborative Approach: Foster a collaborative environment where teams can openly share ideas, concerns, and feedback. Encourage cross-functional collaboration and build positive relationships among team members.

  • Flexibility and Adaptability: Embrace changes and be open to adapting plans and priorities as needed. Epics may evolve over time, and the Epic Owner should be flexible enough to accommodate changes while keeping the overall objectives in focus.

  • Continuous Learning: Stay updated with the latest trends, tools, and methodologies in product management. Attend conferences, join communities, and engage in continuous learning to enhance your skills and knowledge as an Epic Owner.

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FAQ

An Epic Owner is a role in product management responsible for managing and overseeing the development of epics, which are large and complex user stories.
Epics are large and high-level user stories that capture a significant piece of functionality or feature. They are typically broken down into smaller user stories or tasks for development and implementation.
The responsibilities of an Epic Owner include prioritizing epics based on business value, defining and refining epic requirements, coordinating with stakeholders, collaborating with development teams, and ensuring timely delivery of epics.
Epic Owners prioritize epics based on various factors such as market demand, customer feedback, business goals, and strategic objectives. They work closely with stakeholders to understand priorities and make informed decisions.
To be an effective Epic Owner, one needs strong product management skills, including the ability to define and communicate product vision, excellent stakeholder management skills, analytical thinking, and the ability to make data-driven decisions.
Epic Owners collaborate with development teams by providing clear and detailed requirements, answering questions and clarifying doubts, participating in sprint planning and review meetings, and ensuring smooth communication and coordination throughout the development process.
While both roles are involved in product management, an Epic Owner focuses on managing and overseeing the development of epics, which are larger and more complex user stories, whereas a Product Owner focuses on managing the development and delivery of individual user stories.
Yes, it is possible for someone to hold both the roles of an Epic Owner and a Product Owner, especially in smaller organizations where resources are limited. However, in larger organizations, these roles are often separate and assigned to different individuals.
An Epic Owner can ensure timely delivery of epics by closely monitoring the progress of development, identifying and addressing any roadblocks or bottlenecks, regularly communicating with stakeholders and development teams, and adjusting priorities and resources as needed.
The career path for an Epic Owner can vary depending on the organization and individual preferences. It can lead to roles such as Senior Product Owner, Product Manager, or other leadership positions in product management.
An Epic Owner is responsible for the development and delivery of large-scale user stories (epics), ensuring they align with business goals and are delivered on time.
A Product Owner focuses on managing the overall product and individual user stories, while an Epic Owner handles larger, more complex epics that are often broken down into smaller stories.
Epics are typically created by Product Owners or Epic Owners in collaboration with stakeholders to capture significant pieces of functionality or features that align with the product vision.

Article by

Ruben Buijs

Ruben is the founder of ProductLift. I employ a decade of consulting experience from Ernst & Young to maximize clients' ROI on new Tech developments. I now help companies build better products

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