Dictate.life - Modern Productivity

💡 What An Epic Is

An Epic represents a larger outcome you want to achieve. It answers: What does “done” look like for this bigger initiative?

Use Epics to:

✓ Group multiple related Projects under one outcome
✓ Provide high-level narrative and context
✓ Collect notes, references, and linked Knowledge →, Lists →, and Events →

Next: What A Project Is (In Relation To An Epic) →

💡 What A Project Is (In Relation To An Epic)

A Project is a discrete workstream that contributes to the Epic’s outcome. It is still outcome-oriented (not a single task), but smaller in scope than an Epic. A Project may exist independently (not every Project needs an Epic), but Epics can contain many Projects.

Next: When To Use Epics vs Projects →

⏰ When To Use Epics vs Projects

Choose an Epic when:

✓ The initiative spans weeks or has multiple distinct workstreams
✓ You need to coordinate or sequence several Projects
✓ You want a durable place to hold broader narrative and context

Choose a Project when:

✓ You have a self-contained outcome that can be reached without multiple parallel workstreams
✓ You want to plan and track a body of work with clear boundaries
✓ You are ready to identify and execute concrete Next Actions

If something feels too big for a Project (hard to finish, fuzzy scope), elevate it into an Epic that contains several Projects.

Next: Structure →

📝 Structure

Epic → Projects → Next Actions.

Epics can link to: Projects, Next Actions, Knowledge, Lists, Events, external references. Projects can link to: Next Actions, Knowledge, Lists, Events, external references.

Next: Archiving Behavior →

📝 Archiving Behavior

Archiving is irreversible for planning objects and cascades downward:

✓ Archiving an Epic automatically archives all Projects underneath it and all Next Actions underneath those Projects.
✓ Archiving a Project automatically archives all of its Next Actions.
✓ You can archive an individual Project inside an active Epic; the Epic remains active unless you archive the Epic itself.

Use archiving when the outcome is achieved or intentionally abandoned. For ongoing, never-ending areas, prefer Lists → or Knowledge →.

Next: Tips →

💡 Tips

✨ Keep Epics focused: Split if the narrative fragments or the outcome is ambiguous.
✨ Avoid orphan Projects: If several Projects feel loosely related, consider introducing an Epic.
✨ Finish decisively: Archive promptly when the outcome is reached to keep your planning surface current.
✨ Prevent forever work: Move open-ended responsibilities into Lists or Knowledge instead of keeping an Epic or Project indefinitely.

Next: Related Concepts →

Epics