Epic vs story vs task

By Darko Bačić, founder of App Tube · 9 October 2026

An epic is a big piece of work split into smaller parts. A story is one thing a user wants, told from their side. A task is one job that one person can do.

Big trackers often stack all three: epics hold stories, and stories hold tasks. A small team can usually skip the middle one. This post puts the three side by side and shows when stories help. There are more plain explainers on our blog.

An example

Luka, Mira and Ivan are building a new checkout page for a client's shopping app. Here is that work at each level.

The epic is the goal. The story says why the work matters to a real person. The task is what Luka opens on Monday morning.

One story usually turns into a few tasks. "Pay with Apple Pay" needs the button, the payment call and a screen for when it fails. Each of those is a task with its own owner. For more on the top level, read what an epic is.

When to use it

Stories help when the people who decide what to build are not the people who build it. A product owner writes stories for a big group of developers. The story keeps the user in view while the work passes through many hands.

A team of three rarely has that gap. Luka, Mira and Ivan talk to the client and to each other every day. The reason for a task fits in one line at the top of its description. A story level would add a layer of cards that says the same thing twice.

So for a small team, two levels are often enough. Epics hold the big goals, and tasks hold the work. When a task has parts, add subtasks. A subtask is a small task inside a task. Subtasks or checklists helps you pick between the two.

Common mistakes

• Writing every task as a story. "As a developer, I want to update the database" is a task in a costume. Just call it "Update the database".
• Writing stories with no user in them. If nobody outside the team gains from it, it is a task.
• Using three levels for a two-week job. One epic with five tasks is plenty.
• Mixing up sizes. An epic that takes a day is a task. A task that takes a month is an epic.

How devBoard handles it

devBoard has three levels: epic, task and subtask. There is no story level. If your team thinks in stories, write the story as the task title or as the first line of its description. Each task also has a type, such as Feature, Bug or Chore. A type helps you sort work without adding a level. Epics, tasks and subtasks shows the levels in the app, and the guide to setting them up takes a few minutes.