Published on March 09, 2023

The objective of SAFe PI planning is different teams coming together to plan the delivery of a larger scope / vision / product / program for that PI duration (which is usually targeted for 8 to 12 weeks). PI planning helps Agile Release Train (ART) team members synchronize and collaborate to define objectives, outline optimum solution, identify and resolve risks, slate dependencies, and derive value-adds.

PI Planning has significance importance from multiple aspects – Envisions how and what the next product release is going be and it sets the tone for client success and each ART member! And so, PI Planning should serve 100% purpose and should not be a mere cadence!

Following practices should be followed to get maximum outcome through PI Planning sessions.

Come Prepared! Know & Let the team know ‘Why’!

To achieve maximum benefit of PI planning sessions, single rule of thumb is ‘Come Prepared’! Specially at executive and leadership level, make sure you are clear on the ‘Why’ of PI planning – the purpose of this exercise. What you want to achieve at the end of the PI planning has to be clearly laid down before kicking-off the PI planning session!

Set Business Context and Vision

PI Planning session begins by executive member or business owner sharing the business context to all stakeholders. This an hour session is very important to share understanding of what team members will be building during next 8 to 12 weeks, what is the status of the solution and how the next release is going to solve end users’ problems or going to add values in their lives. When team members will work on individual stories and tasks, they will be able to relate with the business value they would be adding by developing that individual story or task!

Set Product Vision

Product management or product team finalizes list of features to be delivered in the upcoming program increment. This should be presented to ART members during PI Planning session. Product owner should also have details of pending items from previous PI planned features and capacity required to adjust this in upcoming PI.

Product and engineering teams’ key stakeholders need to work together before the PI planning session and derive the set of features (Epics) they want to target during that PI duration.

This set need not to have accurate information of the feature being developed but should state feature level benefit hypothesis (i.e., information on measurable benefits to the business or user) and acceptance criteria at high level. While writing the feature stakeholders need to make sure that the feature being developed will be accepted and loved by the business or end users. It is crucial to set the base of the ultimate goal of client-success right from the beginning!

Set Architecture Vision

Engineering team lead or key architect collaborates with strategy team and business owners and defines high level architecture of the PI scope focusing on non-functional requirements (E.g., performance, compliance, capacity, availability, security, compatibility, reliability, localization, environment, coding practices, etc.) and enables evolving architecture in these areas.

Set Development and Agile Practices

Before going for the PI planning session, work on the following for smooth and efficient program management:

• Detailed agenda of 2 days program increment sessions
• Identify owners of key roles and set clear expectations of what the role demands from them. E.g., Program manager, product manager, release manager, DevOps lead, solution architect, quality lead architect
• Tools for Project management, quality management, build management, and resource management
• Project management practices and high-level development lifecycle workflow

Set Expected Outcomes

After the framework is set, next thing is to make sure that the expectations are very clear to all the attendees. As sessions progresses, inspect the progress with desired outcomes and make sure to be in sync.  

Key outcomes you would like to achieve at the end of the PI planning sessions are:

• Risks identified.
• Dependencies identified.
• Refined user stories with dependencies linked.
• High level Architecture.
• Single point of contact for each pod / team / track.
• Tools required and availability.
• Business values are aligning with PI scope.
• No Surprises!

Ask for PI confidence vote

Slot 15 mins in PI agenda at the end part of the session to ask the teams ‘fist of five’. Good practice is to get this information at the end of each day and make sure PI planning is going on track and have buy-in of all participants. If plan rework is required based on the voting, spare sometime to do this at the very end of the session. 

PI Planning is highly effective for complex product development if done right!

Let’s get – set – go!