I find epic updates rather time consuming and RSI-inducing with the massive template nowadays.
I’m curious if there is interest and/or budget for changing up this process? Perhaps with a listaflow checklist form or something similar that can be more quickly filled out. 
First off, I like the plain text format of the update. It’s actually the most efficient format for me. I copy the previous update on to my text editor, have the browser on one half and text editor on the other half, I check the tickets, make pings where needed on the browser, note things on the text editor, once everything is done - copy & paste in the browser. I would take editing plain-text over clicking buttons & filling out text boxes on a web form any day.
While the size of the template is huge, the entries requiring update from sprint-to-sprint are small. So, I don’t find it either time consuming for small epics (our internal Automation epic for example takes me about 4mins) and when it takes time, it’s worth it because, I actually spend the time managing the epic. It’s also billable 
, so I don’t mind.
If the copy pasting I describe seems inefficient - this is one of those places, I am willing to slow down and not rush through. So it feels justified.
@samuel Are there specific parts of the template, or actions that make it feel like a chore that’s not worth it for you?
Ah that’s interesting, starting from the previous update. That would save time - I always start with the template. I guess it depends what kind of changes there have been from previously - if something changes and you want to keep the template wording, you’d still have to refer to the template.
I agree that it’s nice to slow down and check over everything. Plain text is nice too, and the copy/pasting part is fine.
It’s just that it’s very long, and a lot of parts that end up N/A or ‘0h’. So it’s repetitive and tedious editing the template, and the end report feels cumbersome to read because the important parts are hidden among the many questions with N/A answers.
It’s not a major gripe. I just find it tedious, especially when needing to repeat the process for all 7 of my epics on the first wednesday of the sprint. My least favourite of the recurring sprint items to check off.
@samuel Got it. Maybe depending on the epic you could try reusing the previous sprint’s update and see if that helps. For a epic that’s not running in to time or budget issues, usually nothing changes except tickets and time. Even in the tickets, sometimes it’s just moving it from “Worked on next” to “Currently in progress”.
Also, 7 epics feels a few too many. Maybe @farhaan or @tikr can help handing over a couple to others?
Wow, 7 epics? I have like 4 and I’m trying to close one more out right now.
I also do the copy-paste thing. Works pretty well. In most cases there’s not a need to change the questions. In fact the last time we did we made a point to announce on the forums to copy from the handbook again since we know most folks do it that way.
Yeah, in BizDev there’s only a few fields to fill anew so it’s relatively quick, but I only have 1 epic. I think 7 may feel a bit tedious no matter what the process is?
Ah cool, thanks, I will try that next time then!
True 
Yeah possibly. I do enjoy managing the epics though; it’s literally just the epic updates that feel like a drag, hence this post for ideas. ;)
I think it’s ok though, since 3 should wrap up soon (ayce instance deployment, processes revamp, ulmo upgrade). Then I’m only left with the verawood upgrade, ayce maintenance + support, and trialing renovate (which is small).