PI planning definition: PI Planning stands for Program Increment Planning. Teams using the Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe®) schedule these two-day events every eight to 12 weeks depending on the length of their increments. These planning sessions or ceremonies give big teams a chance to coordinate and integrate the actions of smaller team units. Show
Project managers figure out the planned features for the increment, development teams own user story planning, and UX designers and researchers validate the planning. The goal here is to align teams both to the mission of the organization and to each other. Before the innovation of digital tools, like Mural, allowing remote teams to collaborate around the globe, PI planning was done with everyone attending in person. Obviously, getting teams from around the world together in the same physical location for two days cost companies a great deal. Now more than ever, SAFe teams are discovering the power of tools that make it easy to do PI planning remotely. If you’re new to using the SAFe framework, you’ll want to begin with the PI planning ceremony. So let’s dig a bit deeper into the “why.” Why use PI planning?PI planning is essential for large scale organizations using Agile. Imagine an organization with 20,000 developers. These developers might be broken down into 400–600 teams. Before PI planning, it was not uncommon for teams like this never to talk to each other (unless something went drastically wrong). In the past, any alignment on vision would have happened only from the top down. Managers of teams might have gotten together to talk about the big picture — vision, mission, values. And of course, we’re talking about multiple levels of management playing telephone, passing the information down to their teams. But the teams themselves would never coordinate. So, PI planning is the first opportunity many teams at large organizations get to talk to one another. It’s exciting because as the Agile Manifesto states, “the most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is a face-to-face conversation." The business benefits of PI planning include:
What does PI planning have to do with Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe®)?If you are just getting started with the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), you may be wondering how PI planning fits into the picture. Basically, SAFe is a set of guidelines and workflow patterns for implementing Agile at scale. And PI planning gives you a simple framework to bring your agile teams together. You can think of it as the framework within the framework. PI planning is a vital part of SAFe. It’s a ceremony that brings together stakeholders from every team and gives them a plan for working together to decide on top features, identify dependencies, and make a plan for the next program increment. Ideally, PI planning allows for greater visibility across teams, smoother changes, and more coordination at every level of the organization. Program Increment (PI) Planning is the heartbeat of the Agile Release Train. Or, perhaps more accurately, it lays down the tracks for the train to make sure all the train cars go in the same direction. Large-scale SAFe development is a finely tuned machine that must be maintained. Agile Program Management: Make Work Connected and VisibleLearn the challenges facing organizations undergoing transformation and how enterprise Kanban software can help you effectively practice Agile Program Management. View the eBook • Agile Program ManagementGartner 2022 Enterprise Agile Planning Tools Magic QuadrantPlanview is recognized as a Gartner 2022 Enterprise Agile Planning Tools Magic Quadrant Leader (Again). Read the report • Gartner 2022 Enterprise Agile Planning Tools Magic QuadrantLearn how to measure at the teams of teams level.The PI Planning event is two days of focused planning with all the teams, stakeholders, and product owners/managers in one place to review the program backlog and determine the direction of the business. This event typically happens every eight to 12 weeks and can be a significant challenge for large teams that are spread out across the country or even the world. We are here to explore PI Planning, its importance to SAFe development, and some of the challenges of PI planning with multi-locational teams. We can explore some of the tools and processes that teams use to ensure everyone is focused on planning and that the teams walk away from the event feeling confident in the direction the business is going and what they need to help it get there. We are here to explore PI Planning, its importance to SAFe development, and some of the challenges of PI planning with multi-locational teams. We can explore some of the tools and processes that teams use to ensure everyone is focused on planning and that the teams walk away from the event feeling confident in the direction the business is going and what they need to help it get there. Why Is PI Planning Important?Learn how to build stable teams and teams of teams.Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) helps development teams tackle the challenges of coordinating multiple teams, processes, and programs to deliver a unified product. The Agile Release Train (ART) is the core of all the teams working together for a common goal. In very large enterprises, there may be two or more trains working together, and that is why every eight to 12 weeks the teams need to step back and make sure they are still working toward the business goals and the overall vision. PI Planning is scheduled at the beginning of each Program Increment and after the Inspect & Adapt Iteration. Although some companies may start the PI Planning event with the Inspect & Adapt meeting, that is not the focus of this article. The outcomes of the Inspect & Adapt event should be a part of the content of the PI Planning going forward. These items become action items for the next Program Iteration. Steps of PI PlanningPreparationThree areas of preparation for PI planning are:
Standard AgendaThere are many sources for example agendas for the PI Planning event. Depending on your organization, you may want to add motivational speakers, take time to recognize the accomplishments of the last PI, or just allow for some time for ice breaking games so teams can get to know each other. These can all be useful in teambuilding and adding a social element to the event. Here is an example agenda from ScaledAgileFramework.com. It outlines the more critical of steps that are needed for a successful event. Day One Agenda
Day Two Agenda
PI OutputsCommitted PI Objectives Program Board Business Benefits of PI PlanningPI planning delivers many business benefits, including:
Remote Challenges of PI PlanningRemote Teams need to be engaged and accountableThe Agile Manifesto states, “The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is a face-to-face conversation.” The challenge of keeping the remote team members engaged and focused on the planning tasks can be tough. There are a number of video conferencing services on the market that allow teams to video conference individual members but to also have cameras focused on local teams. This makes it possible for everyone to see and interact with each other in the same way as if they were all sitting together in a meeting room. Applications such as Zoom offer team video conferencing but also breakout sessions for PI planning. Remote members should be required to keep their cameras on so that everyone can see each other. They should also plan to be in a quiet place so that there are no distractions and they can focus and participate in the planning sessions. Real-time digital program boards for PI PlanningAgilePlace by Planview is a solution that has templates for some of the most common SAFe development boards. These can be online during planning sessions to allow teams to work digitally in real time for all remote team members to share.
Sharing the brainstorming boards and chatsIf local teams still want to use analog planning games, teams can assign one member to work with a remote team member to create their local contributions. For example, if Jenny is remote, she can use chat or other tools to send her teammate John an idea for the board. That way, she can still contribute with the team planning breakout sessions. One team member can also be charged with updating any online digital boards so that ideas are ready to share with the rest of the meeting at the end of the breakout session. Social interactionTeams should be encouraged to do team-building games and ice breakers early in the meeting or during the breakout sessions so that team members can get to know one another. These games can easily include the remote team members on video conferencing. Ice breakers can include “little known facts about me,” sharing pictures from a vacation, or an event such as “show and tell.” Remote team members should always be required to have video. Seeing each other builds trust between members when they can see body language and facial features. SAFe 5.0 and Business AgilityThe latest version of SAFe® 5.0 expands the framework beyond business operations to embrace full business agility. “Business agility happens when the entire organization – business and tech leaders, compliance, development, finance, legal, marketing, operations, sales, security, support – uses Lean and Agile practices to continually and proactively deliver innovative business solutions faster than the competition.” Scaled Agile, Inc. With the addition of business agility to the framework, PI Planning (and the pre- and post-PI Planning ceremonies) becomes even more valuable to the business. As a business expands Agile, expanding PI Planning to multiple events to include all parts of the organization, connecting the ARTs, and the work to the overall business goals, is tricky. This is where leadership comes in. There must be buy-in from the leadership at the top and implementing a PI Planning-like event for leadership (think Quarterly Steering) to inform the business may be necessary. It’s in a Quarterly Steering/Planning Meeting (often a day or two) that leadership lays out the goals and objectives for all parts of the business, based on current state and future strategies. In Quarterly Steering, the business can show the need for various changes or make requests of the value streams to help deliver against those goals/objectives. This information is then taken to corresponding PI Planning events, to inform their planning accordingly. To do this well, digital tools are even more crucial in these larger solutions and the visual nature of Kanban is growing as the front-runner for business teams. Having one source of truth for the status and priorities of the business can save a great deal of confusion and frustration and keep the organization aligned from bottom to top and across the whole. ConclusionIn the grand scheme of today’s development world, teams are becoming more and more distributed. While many of the team members may be onsite and can attend the PI Planning meeting, there may be entire teams that cannot. For SAFe to evolve, consideration and thought will need to be given to how best to include the valuable input of these remote teams. As online tools emerge, RTEs and business owners need to think outside the box and plan how to coordinate and train teams to use these tools for collaboration. The more teams use the tools on a day-to-day basis, the easier it will be to use them for big events such as PI Planning and other iteration meetings and ceremonies. Even teams working within the same building can benefit from having a digital source of information and a single source of truth within the organization for answers to questions. It can also serve to allow team members to know their stakeholders and product managers so that the right people can answer the right questions at the right time. Teams that rise to this challenge will have the largest pool of skills and talent for their team members and the greatest chance of success in this fast-paced market. What is a confidence vote held at the end of pi planning?A vote of confidence is held near the end of PI planning, where the teams commit to the PI objectives. (Uncommitted objectives are not included in this commitment.) However, it must be a reasonable ask for the people who do the work.
Why is a confidence vote held at the end?Why is a confidence vote held at the end of PI Planning? The confidence vote is a seemingly small but very important part of PI Planning towards the end of the event. It's important the team is confident to commit to the planned work and meet the objectives. The Release Train Engineer will ask teams to vote on this.
At what levels are confidence votes taken once dependencies and program risks are addressed?After dependencies are resolved and risks are addressed, a confidence vote is taken at the Team and Program Levels.
What happens after PI planning?At the end of the post-PI planning event, there should be an agreement on a set of solution-level PI Objectives to be implemented by the end of the PI and demoed at the next Solution Demo.
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