Agile projects manage work through various units, each with its own purpose and relationship to others. Here’s a breakdown:

1. Epic:

• Definition: A large, overarching goal or theme representing a significant user need or business objective.
• Relationship: An epic can be broken down into smaller features or initiatives.
• Example: “Improve customer experience on our mobile app.”

2. Feature:

• Definition: A collection of user stories that delivers a specific functionality or capability within an epic.
• Relationship: Features are smaller than epics and further decompose into user stories.
• Example: “Implement a new checkout process to speed up purchase.”

3. User Story:

• Definition: A short, concise description of a specific user need or functionality, written from the user’s perspective.
• Relationship: User stories are directly actionable and represent the smallest units of work in the backlog.
• Example: “As a customer, I want to be able to save my shopping cart for later purchases.”

4. Task:

• Definition: A concrete, individual step to complete a user story.
• Relationship: Tasks are non-negotiable work items within a user story, estimated in hours or days.
• Example: “Develop the backend API for saving shopping carts.”

Example:

Imagine an epic to “Modernize our online store.” It can be broken down into several features, like “Implement a new product search engine” and “Upgrade the checkout system.” Each feature then translates into user stories, like “As a customer, I want to search for products using relevant filters” or “As a customer, I want to complete checkout using different payment methods.” Finally, each user story is further divided into concrete tasks, like “Develop search filter functionality” or “Integrate payment gateway API.”

Benefits of Relative Estimation:

• Focus on Value: Estimating effort in relative units (e.g., story points) prioritizes relative complexity and value over absolute time, leading to better project planning and resource allocation.
• Team Collaboration: Relative estimation encourages team discussion and consensus, fostering shared understanding and ownership of project tasks.
• Flexibility: It adapts to changing requirements and team velocity, allowing for adjustments without complete re-estimation.

Remember:

• Each unit builds upon the previous one, creating a hierarchical structure for managing project work.
• Agile approaches emphasize estimating relative effort rather than absolute time.
• Understanding these units and their relationships is crucial for effective Agile project planning and execution.