SAFe Wednesdays 3 - SAFe Planning Interval (PI)

Alright, we are into week 3 and looks like we are going good. :).

Today I am writing about Planning Interval (PI). Earlier it was Program Increment, but since SAFe 6.0 upgrade this was renamed to Planning Interval. But the standard of addressing this event as PI Planning still continues.

It is Planning Interval and not Program Increment anymore.

There are quite a few upgrades that've happened in SAFe 6.0 (maybe I will write an article about this too).

Cool, so what is Planning Interval (PI)?

For me, PI is the heart of any SAFe implementation, If you are planning to implement any scaling framework then you will need to be able to plan your work (ouch what a conundrum). But yeah, like we do planning in Scrum, we have to do planning in SAFe as well. PI Planning is the container event that provides an opportunity for multiple teams (under 1 ART) or multiple ARTs to come together to plan their work for next 8 to 12 weeks.

For such large scale planning to take place SAFe by Scaled Agile, Inc. provides an intense framework, where you can simply use the components from SAFe big picture, follow the guidelines, and you can do a decent enough of PI Planning.

PI Planning or Planning Interval contains a dual Plan-Do-Check-Adjust cycles. If you imagine 2 circles (one within another) the outer circle represent Agile Release Train (ART) level cycle and the inner circle represents the Team level cycle.

Below are some of the key points that can help you understand PI planning a little better.

1. PI Planning is a Cadence based Time-box.

2. ART delivers continuous value to customers in dual P-D-C-A cycles.

3. Typically 8-12 weeks long.

4. Contains 4 Iterations of Development and 1 Innovation and Planning Iteration

5. Depending on Context, individual teams can release value independently.

6. PI enables ART to do the following:

a. Plan ART's next increment of work

b. Limit WIP

c. Summarize newsworthy value for feedback

d. Ensure consistent ART retrospectives

7. Develop on Cadence.

8. ART Events drive development

a. Contains dual Plan-Do-Check-Adjust (PDCA) Cycles.

b. One Cycle represents ART's PDCA the other represents Team's PDCA.

9. Develop continuously and Release on Demand (Continuous Exploration, Continuous Integration, Continuous Deployment and Release on Demand)

10. Manage Flow, Scope, Risk and Dependencies

11. Visualize and Limit WIP with ART Kanban

12. Sync on Scope, Progress and Dependencies (Coach, PO and Team Syncs happen here)

13. Address Risks with R.O.A.M board (Resolved. Owned. Addressed. Mitigated)

14. Resolve dependencies with ART Planning board.

15. PI lives at the heart of SAFe.

Below image give an overview of all the ART and Team level events within a PI with their prescribed time boxes.

Hope this helps you understand what a PI is and what are the ART and Team level events under a PI.

Please feel free to like and share the article.

As always please do comment your suggestions. Feedback matters. :)

More on PI at : https://scaledagileframework.com/planning-interval/

Signing off for today

your Humble Pirate

Vikram Kanse