SAFe Knowledge Base » Epic Owners
Epic Owners
The big question of our time is not can it be built? But should it be built? This places us in an unusual historical moment: our future prosperity depends on the quality of our collective imaginations.
—Eric Ries, The Lean Startup [1]
Definition: The Epic Owner is responsible for coordinating epics through the portfolio Kanban system.
Epic Owners (EO) work collaboratively with stakeholders to define the Epic, the Lean business case, and the definition of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and are responsible for shepherding the epic through the portfolio Kanban system. If Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) approves the epic, the EO coordinates the introduction of the epic into implementation with the Agile Release Trains.
Details
Before being committed to implementation, epics require analysis, a Lean business case, and a definition of the MVP. Epic Owners take responsibility for the crucial collaborations needed to guide epics through this process. Enterprise Architects typically act as Epic Owners for Enabler epics. Epics often require the collaboration of multiple Agile Release Trains (ARTs) to implement them. The Epic Owner coordinates this work.