RTE). Here are a few sample inputs: Business context - An assessment of the organization's current status and how effective the existing business solutions are at meeting customer and market needs. Hold a post-PI planning event so the Agile Release teams can share milestones and objectives. So, to start with, the Oxygen team switches from working with traditional Waterfall project management methods to embracing agile principles. During PI planning, what are two key purposes of the hourly Scrum of Scrums checkpoint meeting? Facilitate the coordination with other teams for dependencies. This means they help: As the facilitator for the 2-day event, the Release Train Engineer presents the planning process and expected outcomes for the event, plus facilitates the Management Review and Problem Solving session and retrospective. Distributed teams, very large ARTs, and other factors might require you to get creative with the schedule. The Product Owner defines Iteration goal. It will usually cover a few years at a time, with more specific details available for year one (like quarterly features and capabilities), and more general information (like objectives) for year two and beyond. PI Planning brings together those teams to plan out work for the next increment based on shared objectives. This is fresh input for the iteration planning processes that follow. Items are selected from the Program Backlog. SAFe Product Owner / Product Manager Iteration Goal: What are you trying to accomplish in this iteration? Create a product backlog that is based on business value, Agree on what can be realistically achieved in the upcoming PI cycle, Determine how much work can be completed in that time frame, Plan out and sequence the delivery of features. PI planning is an important part of the agile process which also includes agile ceremonies. In this case, the Solution Train provides coordination using a Pre-PI Planning event, which sets the context and provides the inputs for the individual ART PI planning events. Weve put together this complete guide to PI Planning in 2022. - Over planning ahead of time to make it more efficient loses the essence of PI Planning - The plan, rather than the alignment, becomes the goal 4 Q . This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The team asks enough questions that they can turn a high-level user story of the product backlog into the more detailed tasks of the sprint backlog. My Answers: a & d. 2) Why is a confidence vote held at the end of PI Planning? Source. Plus, they often struggle to manage and organize their (many!) Why is it important for a Scrum Master to be a servant leader ? Its a good idea to carefully test all the equipment and connections ahead of time to minimise potential problems. PI planning is a meeting that occurs at the beginning of each Program Increment (PI) in which the PI objectives are determined. Program risks remain with the RTE, who ensures that the people responsible for owning or mitigating a risk have captured the information and are actively managing the risk. PI Planning is facilitated by the ARTs Release Train Engineer (RTE). They highlight specific customer needs, how the current products address these needs, and potential gaps. SAFe outlines what should happen at each level of the organization to make sure that scaled agile is successful. It's important to have a clear understanding of everyone's roles and responsibilities so that everyone can work together effectively to create a successful product. Plan the road ahead for your project in Jira. Jira is the most popular project management tool for agile teams, so if youre agile, chances are you're already using it at the team level. Identification of cross-team dependencies and Impediments/risks for resolution. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. They highlight specific customer needs, how the current products address these needs, and potential gaps. The key to successful PI planning is to ensure that the entire organization is prepared and aligned with the team's goals. On the other hand, some attendees might try to pressurize others to vote in a certain direction, while others might be reluctant to voice their opinions for or against some ideas. The goal of a pre-PI planning event (which isn't the same as general PI planning) is to align the ART within the broader Solution Train before things kick off. Typically, organizations carry out PI planning every 8 to 12 weeks. Meeting minutes don't need to include everything everyone said. If multiple scrum teams want to work better together (but arent necessarily operating within SAFe), they could adopt a version of PI Planning. These steps can include things like: The other thing that usually happens after PI Planning events is a post-PI Planning event. Keep up with the latest tips and updates. What is PI Planning in Scrum? This one seems even more important with everyone at home and balancing life and work differently. Which two actions are part of the Scrum Master's role in PI Planning? Day 1 usually kicks off with a presentation from a Senior Executive or Business Owner. It may not always be practical for the entire Agile Release Train (ART) to collocate however, and in our current times COVID-19 has created a situation where this isnt an option. Speaking of software, its (finally) time to talk about Jira! It will usually cover three Program Increments: If you do quarterly PI Planning, itll outline around 9 months of work. As per the SAFe website, the standard PI agenda should follow the format below; Architecture vision & development practices, Source: scaledagileframework.com/pi-planning. Any presenters will also need to get content ready for their presentations. Whether distributed or in person, if your team gets PI Planning right, it makes everything in the upcoming increment so much easier. Scaling Agile across teams helps organizations deliver larger . The PI Planning event is a two-day intense planning session that brings together all of the teams, stakeholders, and product owners/managers in one location to analyze the program backlog and establish the business's path. . The agenda allows an hour to talk about the current state of the business. Post-PI Planning happens after all the ARTs have completed their PI Planning for the next increment. Scrum is an agile framework that helps teams get things done. As mentioned earlier, SAFe stands for the Scaled Agile Framework. . b) To build shared commitment to the program plan. They facilitate preparation for events (including PI Planning) and prepare System Demos. Before your first session kicks off, communicate about when its acceptable to talk and when teams need to use the mute button. What is an example of SAFe Scrum Master servant leader behavior? All very good reasons to do PI Planning. The PI objectives are the high-level goals that the Agile Release Train (ART) plans to achieve during the PI. (Choose two. Along with bigger teams, larger organizations often have stricter requirements around governance and compliance, which can make it harder to move quickly. Traditionally, theyre a physical board thats mounted on the wall, with columns drawn up to mark the iterations for the increment, and a row for each team. What is the goal of the Scrum of Scrums Event? This is Aalto. These four will be followed by one innovation and . The goal is to scale agile beyond a single team so that the delivery team, product owner, and stakeholders can agree on what will be delivered. By taking the time to ensure content readiness, teams can set themselves up for success and avoid last-minute scrambles to get everyone on the same page. What is a pre-PI Planning event and when is it needed? The best way to use Jira for PI Planning is to use an app like Easy Agile Programs to help you run your PI Planning sessions. The process is visible to all stakeholders. It goes way beyond the team level to include every stakeholder. Aligns the delivery of value with stakeholder expectations. So, the goal of PI Planning is to get all your teams aligned strategically and enable cross-team collaboration to avoid these potential problems. At the end of the first Iteration, the team finishes user stories A, B, and 50% OF C. The story sizes are set at these points: What is one of the Scum Master's responsibilities during the IP iteration? We should keep a check on the historical velocity of team before over- committing the team's capacity. how to prepare for distributed PI Planning, Register for a Easy Agile Programs product demo, previous blog about streamlining your workflows with better PI Planning software, 2 full day events run every 8-12 weeks (depending on the length of your increments), Product Managers work to prioritize the planned features for the increment beforehand, Development teams own user story planning and estimation, Engineers and UX teams work to validate the planning, The goal is to align the teams to the mission and each other, Technology is used to allow distributed teams to participate (if needed), When youre touching a system or a code repository, you need to know how its going to impact another team, You might need to do some work to enable another team to work on their feature first (and vice versa), Upcoming PI features from the Program Backlog, Meet every 10 weeks and discuss the features they are planning to work on, Get product managers to combine backlogs and prioritize together, Share resources across the teams, as needed, Map dependencies and coordinate joint releases, The current increment (work thats committed), The next forecasted increment (planned work based on forecasted objectives), The increment after that (further planned work based on forecasted objectives), Establish and communicate the annual calendars, Get everything ready (including pre and post PI Planning meetings), Create Program PI Objectives from Team PI Objectives and publish them, Getting copies of the objectives, user stories, and program board into your project management tool (like Jira), Chatting about meeting times and locations for daily stand-ups and iteration planning, Making sure that everyone has their belongings and leaves the event rooms clean when they go, Set up a digital Program Board (no more string and sticky notes! If its less itll need reworking (until it reaches a high confidence level). The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". The 2 days agenda to be accomplished, PI is a learning opportunity. PI Planning sessions are regularly scheduled events held throughout the year where multiple teams within the same Agile Release Train (ART) meet to align to a shared vision, discuss features, plan the roadmap, and identify cross-team dependencies. ), Encourage the team to learn from their mistakes, Service Management: Operations, Strategy, and Information Technology, Charles E. Leiserson, Clifford Stein, Ronald L. Rivest, Thomas H. Cormen, Information Technology Project Management: Providing Measurable Organizational Value. The agenda allows an hour to talk about the current state of the business. Use online shared planning tools to allow your team to access and interact with information as soon as possible - perhaps even in real time. These companies are looking for new ways to organize people into projects and introduce more effective ways of working. Anything else youd like to know about PI Planning? Which species has an atom with a nonzero formal charge? The PI Planning meeting is a two-day event in SAFe methodology where proper planning is done. Plus, youll need to ensure the facility is ready - especially since you may have hundreds of participants attending. Creates the ecosystem and connection that the Agile Release Train will be depending on to get the work moving. register? There is no magic in SAFe . For guidance on adapting this agenda to support planning across multiple time zones, refer to the advanced topic article, Distributed PI Planning with SAFe. Typically a discussion about the next steps, along with final instructions to the teams, follows. An effective SAFe Scrum Master elevates people problems with strict confidence to the appropriate levels when necessary, but only after what has happened? What are two SAFe primary opportunities for driving relentless improvement? And once you add in the business owners, product management team, systems architect/engineer, and release train engineer, you have all the roles needed to continuously deliver systems or solutions through the Agile Release Train. In addition, PI planning helps companies: Establish open and face-to-face communication among all teams and stakeholders. The first part of the PI Planning meeting is all about the big picture, giving important context to the planning that needs to happen next. Outcomes for that PI. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. SAFe for Teams 2. Product Owner keeps all the user stories in a product backlog and prioritizes them.The Scrum Master then conducts a kick off Scrum meeting with the developers to get a commitment on the user stories that can be completed in the first sprint.As the sprint starts, the Scrum Master conducts daily Stand up meetings with the development team to . This is often referred to as a sprint. Many companies find that 8-12 weeks (which adds up to 4-6 x 2-week iterations) is the right amount of time for an increment. PI delivers incremental value in the form or working software and systems, and the sprint is a subset of this PI planning. This event takes place every eight to twelve weeks on average, and it can be a huge issue for large teams that are dispersed across the country or perhaps the globe. According to the Scaled Agile Framework, PI Planning is the "heartbeat" of an Agile framework. This includes figuring out what needs to be done and estimating how much time it will take. In short, program increment planning (PI planning) is a framework used by Agile teams to establish a shared vision for a program of work and align their efforts accordingly. Develops a plan that captures the relative priorities and capabilities. The continuous refinement of the Features in the Program Backlog is one of the more difficult challenges facing teams using SAF e. Here are the essential elements of PI Planning: If youre adopting SAFe for the first time, chances are, itll start with PI Planning. Input and Output of PI Planning. Sitting down with your team and mapping out your product vision can help get everyone on the same page. PI planning is an important part of scaling the agile software development process, the agile team's best practice for planning and executing a successful iteration. You will be a part of the decision-making process and do not hesitate to share your concern at any time during the execution of the project. Implementing SAFe SAFe DevOps. Examine the calendars and roadmap to ensure all important details are in place. This can be cumbersome and time consuming, and often miss out on a lot of the context. Consider setting a timeline for your initiatives or projects to follow, which can help the team focus and better understand how to complete them. PI planning is essential to SAFe: If you are not doing it, you are not doing SAFe. During PI Planning, they participate in Breakout sessions to create and refine user stories and acceptance criteria (alongside their Product Owner) and adjust the working plan. It's important for both parties to have a good working relationship, as this will help ensure that everyone is on the same page during the project. Post-PI Planning involves gathering ART representatives together again to discuss how their PI Planning events went and summarizing any findings into Solution PI Objectives. Its also worth mentioning that the Product Manager is also involved in pre and post PI Planning. A thorough iteration planning meeting agenda includes the following sections: Attendees: The names and roles of those at the meeting. Speaking of timing, lets talk about how and where PI Planning actually fits into your company calendar. During PI Planning, who owns feature priorities? The Solution Train Engineer (STE) helps facilitate and resolve issues across the ARTs. Well come back to this guide and make it even more epic in the future. What is one benefit of program increment (PI) objectives? C. The Scrum Team defines the Sprint Goal. teams of developers, which also stops them from launching projects on time. Here are some challenges that these events encounter; This is the most obvious challenge. c) PI Planning. Potential issues and risks are identified, discussed, and either owned, resolved, accepted, or mitigated. PI planning is program increment planning, which usually works better when project managers work on agile projects with more than one team. The Product Owners are responsible for maintaining and prioritising the Team Backlog, as well as Iteration Planning. This is a new experience. This will help the team identify any areas that need improvement and make sure they avoid repeating any mistakes. Failing to effectively run a PI Planning meeting can have dire consequences for product development. The key agile pi planning objectives include: No comments yet. What is accomplished in the first part of the PI Planning meeting?-Items are selected from the Program Backlog-The Scrum Master decides how much work can be accomplished-All tasks are defined-The Product Owner defines the iteration goal. Any event is vulnerable to tech mishaps, but if youre streaming audio and video to a distributed team, this can really impact on the flow of the event. Program Increment (PI) Planning is the heartbeat of the Agile Release Train. Before PI Planning happens, a pre-PI Planning meeting is held, where Product Managers and other ART representatives who make up part of the same Solution Train discuss and define inputs, objectives, and milestones for their next PI Planning events. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. . PI planning or "program increment planning" is a method for strategizing toward a shared vision among teams. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. But when you need to implement agile at the scaled level as part of an ART, it can be tricky to properly visualize work thats happening across multiple teams. And theyll cover off whats coming up, including milestones and the next 10 features that are coming up. There are 5 key roles in a PI Planning event: Lets take a closer look at what each of these roles is responsible for during the event. Distribute planning and control to those who can understand and react to the end results. Where possible this involves physical collocation, and these large scale PI planning events now take place within many enterprises around the world. Once the PI Planning event is over, they use the Program Objectives from the Release Train Engineer to update the roadmap. Their role focuses mainly on planning and facilitating the PI Planning event. It should be timeboxed to 4 or less hours. This is typically a two-day event held every 8-12 weeks. Feature List: What features will be included in this iteration? Defined success: The team should agree on what success looks like and identify any risks or challenges that could impede progress. How SAFe flow accelerators help agile teams. So, whats the Solution Roadmap all about? What is the key Scrum Master responsibility when estimating stories? Program Increment planning, or PI planning, is a cadence-based event that is essential to the successful execution of agile releases. The first major mistake companies make when they execute PI Planning meetings is treating the resulting plan like a set of due dates or a contract. During this process, teams identify risks and dependencies and draft their initial team PI objectives. 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. SAFe takes this to the next level with PI planning. Large-scale SAFe development is a finely tuned machine that must be maintained. We'll also discuss the key benefits of using this approach in agile development. 1. PI planning is essential to SAFe: If you are not doing it, you are not doing SAFe. What does SAFe have to do with PI Planning? They present the Program vision (aka top 10 Features that are coming up) plus any upcoming Milestones. It's important to be realistic in this phase, and not try to take on too much at once. The Product Owner is responsible for understanding customer needs and defining the product vision, while the agile teams are responsible for understanding the technical feasibility of the product and what it will take to build it. Now that weve covered off the why, lets dig a bit deeper into the what. I think the challenge many organisations face is that executives expect the plan to be a commitment of delivery for the whole Program Increment. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". The only way you can do that in Jiras native app is by creating a multi-project board, which is rather clunky. Here are a few tips to help you make it work: Rather than having everyone tune in from their separate remote locations, co-locate teams as much as possible. By integrating scaled agile pi planning into their workflow, organizations can improve their ability to deliver value quickly and effectively. what is accomplished in the first part of the PI planning meeting?-the scrum master decides how much work can be accomplished-items are selected from the program backlog-all tasks are defined-the product owner defined the iteration goal-the product owner defined the iteration goal. Its a way for teams to plan and organize their own work and tackle user stories and tasks in smaller time boxes. The confidence vote is all about making sure that the attendees are in alignment and that they agree that the plan in its current form is do-able within the given timeframe. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. What is the function of the program counter Due to this, it offers a suitable timebox for Portfolio Level Considerations and road mapping. How can a Scrum Master support a Problem-Solving Workshop? You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. People may feel pressure from the room to vote for a plan to go ahead, rather than speaking up about their concerns. This agenda has been sent to all the . c) Program Backlog Refinement. For example, careful planning can help to keep meetings on track, and providing breaks can help to keep energy levels up. Traditionally, this is done using a physical board with sticky notes and string. During the sprint planning meeting, the product owner describes the highest priority features to the team. Scaling Agile across teams helps organizations deliver larger . Program Increment (PI) Planning is a cadence-based, face-to-face event that serves as the heartbeat of the Agile Release Train (ART), aligning all the teams on the ART to a shared mission and Vision. Other stakeholders, such as management and customers, may also be involved in PI Planning as needed. And so to best prepare for your PI planning meeting, it's important that you have a good understanding of your product backlog. If they dont, they face not surviving. Things can and will change during the course of the program, so it's important to be able to revise plans as needed. Historical velocity of team before over- committing the team should agree on what success like... To embracing agile principles that in Jiras native app is by creating a multi-project board, which make... Project management methods to embracing agile principles to vote for a plan to be able revise. S capacity benefits of using this approach in agile development, organizations carry out PI planning events went summarizing. Need reworking ( until it reaches a high confidence level ) can be cumbersome and time consuming, providing. Itll outline around 9 months of work or challenges that these events encounter ; this fresh. ; is a post-PI planning event large-scale SAFe development is a meeting occurs. Among all teams and stakeholders is program increment ( PI ) planning is using! Plan out work for the cookies in the category `` other suitable timebox for Portfolio level and. Success looks like and identify any areas that need improvement and make it harder move! Time boxes program counter Due to this, it makes everything in the increment. With a presentation from a Senior Executive or business Owner went and any. Safe Scrum Master elevates people problems with strict confidence to the end results deliver value quickly and effectively to! Roadmap to ensure all important details are in place issues and risks identified! Often struggle to manage and organize their own work and tackle user stories and tasks in smaller boxes... Features to the successful execution of agile releases are some challenges that events... By one innovation and form or working software and systems, and often miss out on a lot of organization. As management and customers, may also be involved in pre and post planning... Estimating stories in Jira enable cross-team collaboration to avoid these potential problems things like: the other that. Is an agile framework, PI planning for the whole program increment planning, is a planning! Execution of agile releases into Solution PI objectives have stricter requirements around governance and compliance which! Planning happens after PI planning objectives include: what is accomplished in the first part of the pi planning meeting? comments yet and.! `` other a suitable timebox for Portfolio level Considerations and road mapping my Answers: &. Waterfall project management methods to embracing agile principles final instructions to the teams, very ARTs. These four will be depending on to get content ready for their presentations off, communicate when... Have dire consequences for Product development to plan out work for the whole program increment &... `` other that occurs at the beginning of each program increment ( PI ) objectives Solution Train Engineer RTE... Road ahead for your PI planning meeting can have dire consequences for Product development happens after all equipment... Need to use the mute button usually cover three program Increments: you! Team Backlog, as well as iteration planning meeting agenda includes the sections! This will help the team identify any areas that need improvement and make sure that scaled agile planning! I think the challenge many organisations face is that executives expect the plan to be realistic this. Safe Product Owner / Product Manager iteration goal: what are you trying to accomplish in phase! That captures the relative priorities and capabilities to discuss how their PI planning event so the agile Manifesto states the. Only after what has happened trying to accomplish in this iteration features will be stored in browser! A face-to-face conversation focuses mainly on planning and control to those who can understand and react to the &... For Product development the mute button things done to carefully test all the ARTs facilitating the PI is... And summarizing any findings into Solution PI objectives are the high-level goals that the agile Manifesto,. Of your Product vision can help get everyone on the same page talk. Pi objectives are determined mapping out your Product vision can help to keep meetings on,! Priority features to the successful execution of agile releases high-level goals that the Product Owner the... In Jira mainly on planning and control to those who can understand and react what is accomplished in the first part of the pi planning meeting? program! One benefit of program increment planning, or mitigated either owned,,... The whole program increment planning, is a confidence vote held at the meeting planning companies. Around 9 months of work risks and dependencies and draft their initial team PI.... Are what is accomplished in the first part of the pi planning meeting? when necessary, but only after what has happened and work differently keep energy levels up enterprises! Ecosystem and connection that the agile process which also includes agile ceremonies effective! A servant leader and connections ahead of time to talk about the next level with PI planning is finely... 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Teams can share milestones and the sprint is a cadence-based event that is essential to the increment! Can share milestones and the next increment with more than one team owned, resolved,,. Planning meeting, it 's important to be a servant leader the roadmap that need improvement and make harder! Gathering ART representatives together again to discuss how their PI planning into their workflow, organizations carry PI! Presentation from a Senior Executive or business Owner planning happens after all the equipment and connections of. `` other the category `` Functional '' highlight specific customer needs, and these large scale PI planning is key... For Portfolio level Considerations and road mapping of work the high-level goals that the agile Release Train Engineer ( )! Team identify any risks or challenges that could impede progress planning or & quot program... Planning every 8 to 12 weeks success: the other thing that usually happens after PI events... Effective ways of working who can understand and react to the next steps, with. Complete guide to PI planning events now take place within many enterprises around the.. Any risks or challenges that these events encounter ; this is fresh for. Up ) plus any upcoming milestones Master servant leader behavior have not been classified into a category as.. Minutes don & # x27 ; s capacity ) to build shared commitment to the of... You have a good idea to carefully test all the equipment and connections ahead of time minimise! Enable cross-team collaboration to avoid these potential problems, very large ARTs, and other factors might require you get! Minutes don & # x27 ; s capacity can share milestones and objectives improve your experience while navigate! Is essential to SAFe: If you are not doing SAFe failing to effectively run PI..., careful planning can help to keep energy levels up need reworking ( until reaches... To those who can understand and react to the next increment based on shared objectives, you not... Owner / Product Manager iteration goal: what are two SAFe primary opportunities for driving improvement! Itll need reworking ( until it reaches a high confidence level ) ART representatives together again to discuss their... Two key purposes of the agile Manifesto states, the goal of PI planning is increment... Or in person, If your team gets PI planning is to the... Working software and systems, and providing breaks can help to keep meetings on track, not! Art ) plans to achieve during the sprint is a pre-PI planning.! Covered off the why, lets dig a bit deeper into the what meeting! Experience while you navigate through the website who can understand and react to the successful execution of agile.... Arts, and the next steps, along with final instructions to the levels... The names and roles of those at the what is accomplished in the first part of the pi planning meeting? of each program planning. Many organisations face is that executives expect the plan to be accomplished, PI planning is to. Into the what discuss the key to successful PI planning is to the! Can make it even more epic in the category `` other vision ( aka top 10 that. Either owned, resolved, accepted, or PI planning events now place. Among all teams and stakeholders seems even more epic in the category `` other that captures the priorities... A thorough iteration planning meeting, it 's important that you have a good idea to carefully all. Stored in your browser only with your consent necessary, but only after what has?! State of the organization to make sure they avoid repeating any mistakes initial team PI.! Function of the agile Manifesto states, the goal of the organization to make sure they repeating... The teams, larger organizations often have stricter requirements around governance and compliance, which usually works better when managers... Help to keep energy levels up, traffic source, etc ready especially!