Epic Breakdown Loop
This loop helps decompose large epics into actionable user stories and development tasks. It guides the agent to analyze epic scope, generate well-defined stories with acceptance criteria, estimate effort for each story, and iterate until all stories are properly scoped and estimated for sprint planning readiness.
Goal
Split epic into tasks
How to Run
Run this loop in your coding environment to break down an epic into estimated user stories. The agent will iteratively refine stories until they meet estimation and quality standards.
- 01
Initialize Epic Breakdown
Provide the epic details and any initial context
- 02
Decompose Epic
Agent generates user stories from the epic with clear acceptance criteria
- 03
Review and Estimate
Use 'story review' command to validate stories and estimates
- 04
Iterate Until Ready
Agent refines stories/estimates based on feedback until all are complete
Workflow Steps
- 01
Parse provided epic for key deliverables, constraints, and success metrics
- 02
Break epic into logical user stories following INVEST principles
- 03
For each story, create clear 'Given/When/Then' acceptance scenarios
- 04
Provide rough effort estimates (story points or time) for each story
- 05
Run 'story review' command to validate completeness and accuracy
- 06
Adjust stories, criteria, or estimates based on check results
Kickoff Prompt
Start the "Epic Breakdown Loop" loop. Goal: Split epic into tasks Max iterations: 10 Between iterations run: story review Exit when: Stories estimated Please provide the epic details you want to break down. Include title, description, business objectives, user personas involved, and any existing acceptance criteria or constraints. I will decompose this into user stories with acceptance criteria and effort estimates. Self-pace this loop. After each iteration, run `story review` and evaluate the output, and only continue if the exit condition is not met (Stories estimated). Stop when the exit condition passes or 10 iterations are reached. Give a short status update each pass.
Guardrails
hardcoded- ·Never split a story more than 2 levels deep from the original epic
- ·Ensure all generated stories have measurable acceptance criteria
- ·Maintain traceability to the original epic requirements
- ·Limit total story count to prevent overwhelming iteration cycles
- ·Preserve business value focus across all decomposed tasks
Flow Diagram
Related loops — Planning
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This loop helps your team refine and organize your product backlog by ensuring items are clearly defined, properly prioritized, and ready for development. It iteratively works through backlog items to improve clarity, acceptance criteria, and estimation accuracy.
Planning
Risk Assessment Builder
An automated loop that systematically identifies, analyzes, and documents potential risks in a software project. Designed to help teams proactively manage project threats through structured evaluation cycles.
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