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epic-breakdown-advisor — Claude Code skill: how to install

Breaks down unwieldy epics into vertical user stories through Richard Lawrence's Humanizing Work patterns. Useful when a backlog item feels too large for sprint planning.

Install into Claude Code · Skills CLI (Vercel) All methods and platforms ↓ 
npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill epic-breakdown-advisor -a claude-code
Open on GitHub

What epic-breakdown-advisor does

The advisor runs an interactive assessment session. It begins by collecting your raw backlog item, target persona, and acceptance criteria. Next, it tests the item against INVEST requirements. If the story delivers no visible outcome to the user, the skill stops the breakdown and asks to combine the work instead.

Once validated, the tool cycles through 9 sequential patterns to find a fit. These cover workflow steps, CRUD operations, business rules, and deferring performance work. The workflow creates end-to-end vertical slices across architectural boundaries rather than splitting backend from frontend. A full walk-through takes between 20 and 30 minutes.

Vague acceptance criteria will stall the session during initial validation. You will need clear pass conditions before you run this prompt.

What it helps with

  • Split oversized epics into sprint-sized vertical stories
  • Eliminate low-value work before team estimation
  • Stop teams from creating purely technical frontend or backend stories
  • Select a structured splitting pattern for ambiguous workflows

Example prompts for the agent

  • Split this epic: customer checkout with card payments and invoice generation
  • Help me break down a reporting export epic ahead of sprint planning
  • Find the right story splitting pattern for our user moderation flow

How to install epic-breakdown-advisor

1Skills CLI (Vercel)

npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill epic-breakdown-advisor -a claude-code

2Manually: put the files in place

~/.claude/skills/epic-breakdown-advisor/SKILL.md

Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/epic-breakdown-advisor/

Step by step, with commands for each platform: How to install skills in Claude Code: five ways

Questions about epic-breakdown-advisor

How to install epic-breakdown-advisor in Claude Code?

Run npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill epic-breakdown-advisor -a claude-code in your terminal.

What does epic-breakdown-advisor do?

It guides product managers through 9 systematic patterns to split bulky backlog items into deliverable vertical slices.

Why does the skill check INVEST criteria first?

The check ensures an epic represents observable user value rather than an isolated technical chore. If value is missing, the skill halts the split.

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