How to write a value-focused epic
An epic is your unit of value contribution to an outcome. If it doesn't carry a £ number, it's a feature wishlist.
Why it matters
Epics roll up to outcomes. The sum of the epics is what tells the business whether the outcome is plausible. Vague epics ("improve search") create vague rollups, which lead to leadership not trusting the numbers, which leads back to roadmap-by-anecdote. Tight, priced epics reverse that.
Step by step
- Title in plain English. "Personalised onboarding for week-one users" beats "Onboarding v3".
- Link the parent outcome. No floating epics.
- Set the planned value contribution. Show how this epic moves the outcome's KPI: "expected to lift activation by 3 points → ~£60k of the £180k target".
- State the hypothesis. "If we do X, we expect Y, because Z." One sentence.
- List 3–6 acceptance signals. What you'll measure to know it landed (not what it'll do).
- Mark risk level. Low / medium / high with one-line rationale.
- Run the Backlog Curator agent. It checks alignment, flags missing fields, suggests sibling epics that might overlap.
What good looks like
- Linked to one outcome
- Planned £ value with workings
- One-sentence hypothesis
- 3–6 measurable acceptance signals
- Risk level + rationale
- Sum-of-siblings cross-checked against outcome target
How Tenhaw runs this
Every Tenhaw epic carries a planned £ contribution; the value rollup sums them and flags any gap against the outcome target. The Backlog Curator agent reviews your draft for missing fields and sibling overlap before you commit.
- Tenhaw Epics
- Tenhaw Backlog Curator AI agent
- Tenhaw value rollup
- Tenhaw outcome calibration
In Tenhaw → any outcome → New epic. The Tech Debt + Bug Budget epics are auto-created per quarter, you don't add those manually.
Run this in your team
The Tenhaw product enforces every rule in this playbook so it doesn't sit on a wiki gathering dust. Try Tenhaw or book a working session with the founder.