5 PI Planning Tips for RTEs
Scaled Agile (SAFe?) Training by Agilemania
Thriving in the Digital Age with Business Agility!
Hey everyone! Welcome to the 9th Edition of our newsletter— The Scaled Agile Press!??? It's an initiative by Agilemania Agilemania for all the SAFe? practitioners and enthusiasts.
??What is PI Planning?
PI (Program Increment) Planning is a cornerstone of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). It's a cadence-based event that brings together your entire Agile Release Train (ART) – teams, stakeholders, and leadership – to align on a shared mission and vision for the upcoming program increment (typically 8-12 weeks).
??During this intensive two-day event, attendees collaborate to:
5 PI Planning Tips for RTEs
Conducting a successful virtual program increment (PI) planning session is a critical responsibility of release train engineers (RTEs). And if teams work remotely, it can be easy to get caught up in checklists and logistics, losing sight of the desired true outcomes. The key goal is to achieve alignment among 125-150 people on a common vision, backlog, and priorities for the next 10-12 weeks.
Reaching this alignment requires laser-sharp focus on the outcomes, not just the outputs or activities. It demands careful preparation, effective communication, and an environment conducive to collaboration and engagement.
To ensure a productive and rewarding virtual PI Planning experience, RTEs should keep the following tips in mind:
1. Delegate to Be Prepared
?? The RTE should delegate activities to co-facilitators, Scrum Masters, and agile coaches to support preparation and facilitation.
?? Delegate tasks like virtual meeting setup, agile tool setup, meeting facilitation, and written communication.
2. Communicate the Core Message
?? Ensure that executive and management presentations are inspiring, motivational, and help connect the teams to the organization's vision and purpose.
?? Encourage storytelling and sharing customer success stories or examples from the field.
?? Invite executives who know the customer and business to present and tell captivating stories.
?? Rehearse and ensure smooth transitions between segments.
3. Provide Context
?? Spend more time on feature review, detailing value, acceptance criteria, architecture, and encouraging Q&A.
领英推荐
?? Provide teams with new skill sets and competencies to enable successful work in the Program Increment.
?? Involve key business owners and product managers in discussing the business context, vision, and roadmap.
4. Prepare, Don't Over-Prepare
?? Avoid excessive pre-planning and create detailed stories about all features beforehand.
?? Starting with fewer prepared stories allows for better collaboration and learning during PI planning.
?? Over-preparation can lead to wasted effort if dependencies are missed or the scope needs to be adjusted.
5. Visualize Features
?? Visualize feature progress during PI planning to provide visibility to the entire organization.
?? For in-person PI planning, use colored sticky notes or slips to track feature assignments and progress.
?? In virtual settings, use tools like piplanning.io that color-code and label features as they are assigned to teams.
??Agile Tip of the Week?
Be empathetic towards RTE participants' personal situations and stresses.Conduct pre-sessions, use multiple communication channels, and encourage one-on-one meetings. Bring laughter, reduce stress, and take regular breaks with interactive games during the session.
IT PMO | Certified SAFe? 6 Release Train Engineer | Certified SAFe? 6 Agilist
4 个月I agree!