Game Plan: An Effective & Collaborative Alternative to the Death March of PI Plannings

Have you ever felt overwhelmed, drained, and like your time is being wasted at a multi-day big room PI planning event with over 100 team members? If so, this article is for you.

PI Planning is a cadence-based event for the entire ART that aligns teams and stakeholders to a shared mission and vision. - Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

Above is the definition on PI planning on SAFe's site, sounds simple and the intent is good but the devil is in the "DETAILs" - but I will spare you from that details.

You’re here because you’re looking for an alternative practice for PI planning, and hence I'm assuming that you are aware of the associated problems with the practice in real life. If not then I'm sure that you will find multiple articles on the details. I'm doing this to avoid negativity/ bashing of any kind and focus of better practice as an end goal.

So here it goes... ??

Graphic Gameplan

The Graphic Gameplan is a visual tool that helps teams and workgroups clarify their goals and how they will reach them by defining the key steps, success factors, and major challenges all in one place. It is a dynamic action plan that can be customised to fit the specific needs of any project.

The Graphic Gameplan is typically drawn on a large whiteboard or flipchart, and it is divided into a grid with four to six columns:

• Goal:?What do you want to achieve?
• Action:?What steps do you need to take to reach your goal?
• Success Factors:?What conditions need to be met in order for you to consider your project a success?
• Challenges:?What obstacles might you face along the way, and how will you overcome them?
• Duration: 30-120 minutes

To create a Graphic Gameplan, simply write your goal at the top of the grid, and then brainstorm a list of all the actions that need to be taken to achieve that goal. Once you have a list of actions, identify the key success factors and challenges for each action.

Once your Graphic Gameplan is complete, you can use it to track progress and make adjustments as needed - you see, it is not fixed and needs to be adapted as you learn by doing. The visual nature of the Graphic Gameplan makes it easy to see where you are in the process and to identify any potential roadblocks.

Tip

• It is Gameplan - As the name suggest, it is a game plan and hence you cannot plan everything in a game. You go in a game with some plan and you adapt as the game progress. So keep in light and simple.

Sample Gameplan for a team

Miro template

You can use this miro template for building a game plan for you teams ??

Credits & References:

My colleague Lucy Karpova was the one who introduced me to Gameplan and the idea immediately clicked. We have since used it multiple times with many teams with great success and resulting to great conversation & exploration of ideas ??

I hope that it will be equally beneficial for your teams as well.

Here is few reference material to read about the Graphic Gameplan:

• Graphic Gameplan: A Visual Tool for Strategy and Execution?by Grove Consultants International. This book is a comprehensive guide to using the Graphic Gameplan tool. It includes step-by-step instructions, templates, and case studies.
• Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers?by Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, and James Macanufo This book is a collection of creative workshops and exercises that can be used to generate new ideas and solve problems. It includes a chapter on the Graphic Gameplan as well.
• The Graphic Gameplan: A Quick Guide?by FutureFactor. This is a quick guide to using the Graphic Gameplan.