{"id":"pm-epic-split-thin-stories","audience":"product-managers","category":"planning","track":"productivity","technique":"examples","title":"Split a big epic into thin slices you can ship one by one","free":false,"task":"Your epic for gift cards is too big for one sprint. Split it into exactly 4 numbered thin slices, in the order you'd ship them, each written as 'Slice: what a customer can do after it ships', plain text, under 80 words. Each slice must be usable on its own, the first slice must be the smallest end-to-end path the team agreed on, and the parked items must not appear.","materialLabel":"Epic notes (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"Epic: Digital gift cards (Bookly salon booking)\n\nFull vision:\n- Customers buy a gift card for a fixed amount ($25, $50, $100) on the salon's booking page.\n- Custom amounts ($10-$500).\n- Recipient gets the gift card by email with a code.\n- Recipient redeems the code at checkout when booking online.\n- Salon staff can redeem a code at the front desk.\n- Gift card balance check page.\n- Scheduled delivery (send on a birthday).\n- Physical printed cards. PARKED until next year.\n- Bulk corporate gift cards. PARKED, no demand data.\n\nTeam agreement (Mar 12): first slice = fixed amounts, email delivery, online redemption only. That's the thinnest path where real money moves end to end. Front desk redemption next because salons asked for it most.\n\nEngineering note: balance check and custom amounts are small; scheduled delivery needs a new job scheduler (bigger).","rules":[{"type":"numberedItems","count":4},{"type":"maxWords","max":80},{"type":"plainText"}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Asking to 'break this down'","why":"The AI writes technical tasks (database, API, UI) instead of slices a customer can use.","fix":"Show it: \"1. Customers can buy a $25/$50/$100 gift card, get it by email, and redeem it online.\"","checks":["r1","r2"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total word limit and it often lands over it.","fix":"Cap each slice instead: \"each slice under 18 words.\"","checks":["maxWords"]},{"title":"Letting it pick the order","why":"The AI starts with setup work or the flashiest feature, not the agreed first slice.","fix":"Add: \"Slice 1 is the team's agreed thinnest path; slice 2 is front desk redemption.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Including parked items","why":"Parked items are listed with everything else, so the AI plans them too.","fix":"Add: \"Leave out printed cards and corporate cards. Exactly 4 numbered slices, plain text.\"","checks":["r2","numberedItems","plainText"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Asks for usable slices","patterns":["slice","usable","end.to.end","customer can"]},{"label":"Sets the first slice","patterns":["first slice","slice 1","agreed","thinnest"]},{"label":"Leaves parked items out","patterns":["parked","printed","corporate"]},{"label":"Sets the number of slices","patterns":["\\b(4|four)\\b.{0,15}slice"]},{"label":"Asks for plain text","patterns":["plain","no bold","no markdown","no formatting","no headings"]}],"hint":"Good slices are things a customer can do, shipped in a sensible order. Show the AI one slice, name the agreed first one, and say what's parked.","rubricLabels":["Slice 1 is buying a fixed-amount gift card ($25/$50/$100) delivered by email and redeemed online, and slice 2 is front desk redemption","Slices 3 and 4 cover the remaining items (balance check, custom amounts, scheduled delivery, possibly combined), with scheduled delivery last or in slice 4, and each slice is something a customer or staff member can do on its own","Physical printed cards and bulk corporate cards do not appear, each line starts with what someone can do, and there is no intro or notes"]}