I recently came across a thought-provoking article by John Cutler titled “The Gradual Fall of Stories and Epics,” which resonates deeply with my own experiences leading product and technology teams. Cutler challenges traditional reliance on Scrum artifacts like user stories and epics. To me, these have always been tools primarily designed to manage output rather than to drive meaningful outcomes.
This shift in focus—from what’s being delivered to the actual impact of those deliveries—is not just a semantic distinction but a paradigm change that every product leader should embrace.
Why Stories and Epics Fall Short
Stories and Epics have long been staples in Agile product teams. Their original intent, as Cutler outlines, was to create a helpful scaffold—encouraging teams to think from the user’s perspective and break down work into manageable, testable increments. They serve as conversation starters, not finished blueprints. Yet, over time, these artifacts have become awkward proxies for progress reports or productivity metrics, often resulting in teams turning off their critical thinking and just “painting by numbers.”
I’ve witnessed firsthand how this approach traps teams into focusing on swinging cards across boards rather than reflecting on whether those developments fulfill real user needs or business objectives. The metric of “stories completed” offers the illusion of progress while masking crucial questions about impact and value creation.
Cutler’s experience that many teams now safely discard stories and epics, relying instead on release notes and qualitative feedback, aligns with the need to move away from volume-based indicators. Milestones and outcome-focused goals provide richer, more meaningful measures of progress.
Aligning Product Leadership With Outcomes, Not Output
I’m a big believer in lowercase agile. I even have a copy of the Agile Manifesto on my office wall. True agility demands that product leaders evolve beyond Scrum artifacts as the primary working documents. Instead, exploring agile priciples and applying practices influenced by Lean Startup, Design Thinking and innovation management—like bets and experiments—which better embody the unpredictable nature of product development.
Bets center the team on hypotheses about user behavior or business impact; experiments provide a structured way to validate or refute those hypotheses with data. This approach fosters a learning culture where uncertainty is embraced, and decisions are evidence-based. It encourages teams to stop merely completing tasks and start delivering results that matter.
My teams have transitioned away from rigid Scrum roles tied to epics and stories, which historically aimed to deliver output targets. Now, they focus on reflective practices to continuously measure how their work influences customer satisfaction, engagement, and commercial KPIs. This mindset fosters collaboration, innovation, and importantly, accountability for actual outcomes instead of artifact completion.
The Danger of Over-Reliance on Framework Terminology
Cutler also critiques “heavyweight product practices” that veer into bureaucratic rigidity or replace one set of ineffective rituals with another. This resonates with my experience that no framework—be it Scrum, SAFe, or traditional Waterfall—guarantees success unless it’s adapted thoughtfully with a keen focus on impact.
Labels like “story,” “epic,” or “PRD” often distract from the core purpose of product work, which is to solve problems and create value, not just to fill a backlog or satisfy a process checklist. Adopting outcome-driven language and discipline helps leaders and teams avoid these traps and maintain focus on what truly moves the needle.
Implications for Product and Technology Leaders
For CPOs, CTOs, and executive leaders reading this reflection, the takeaway is clear: reevaluate how your teams define progress. Metrics anchored in output are seductive but often misleading. Instead, drive a cultural shift where bets and experiments form the lingua franca of product work, enabling teams to explore, learn, and pivot rapidly based on real feedback.
This nuanced approach does not reject Agile outright but builds on its foundational principles, integrating them with innovation practices proven to drive sustained business success. Encourage your teams to embrace continuous learning, focus on impact, and shed the dependency on legacy artifacts that may no longer serve the dynamic demands of today’s markets.
Pivot Towards Outcome-Driven Product Leadership
John Cutler’s article serves as a valuable wake-up call for product organizations fixated on artifacts rather than impact. I stand firmly in agreement with his critique, and can point at my own teams’ evolution away from stories and epics toward bets and experiments as the cornerstone of product success.
Let us move past painting within the lines of Scrum artifacts and instead boldly redraw the canvas of product management with bold bets and ambitious, clear measures of impact and customer value.
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