PI Planning or Program Increment Planning could be stated to be the heartbeat of the Agile Launch Practice(ART). Much more exactly, it units the tracks for the practice to make sure that all rail automobiles(scrum groups which can be part of ART) journey in the identical course. It’s just like Iteration planning in crum. It’s an extension of Iteration planning below an even bigger umbrella i.e ART.  

PI Planning periods are often scheduled actions held in the course of the 12 months the place varied groups throughout the similar Agile Launch Practice (ART) collaborate to agree with a standard imaginative and prescient, talk about performance, put together the roadmap and outline cross-team dependencies. It is a mounted timebox for planning , designing, and validating a whole system, displaying worth, and having fast suggestions.  

Whenever you first comply with SAFe, chances are high, it is going to begin with PI Planning. It’s because it kinds the premise for the Scaled Agile FrameworkTM. The PI Planning ceremony is the muse of your transformation and the motive force for SAFe. We are going to take a deep dive into PI planning intimately on this article and perceive its significance in SAFe.

What’s SAFe®?

Earlier than understanding SAFe ,let’s first perceive what Scrum is. Scrum is an iterative product creation method specializing in a daily manufacturing cadence. It depends on cross-functional groups, a set of ceremonies, and sure particular supporting roles to assist drive these deliveries.

SAFe is an extension of Scrum on the bigger organizational degree. SAFe or the Scaled Agile FrameworkTM is a set of rules and techniques designed to assist ship resilience to all departments and ranges of the group. The system is designed to reinforce visibility, coordination and cooperation which can end in improved effectivity , higher outcomes and quicker supply.

Image Source

Introduction to Program Increment :

PI Planning is especially helpful for agile firms of enormous scale. Let ‘s have a look at some figures, to know the impact. Some larger firms , for instance, might have 300-400 groups and 5,000 builders. These groups might by no means have spoken to one another earlier than, within the outdated manner of working till an important concern pressured them to collaborate.

Beforehand, coordination would have been on the degree of the management group, and they’d have had a number of ranges of managers in between who would trickle down particulars, however the individuals on the groups would by no means converse to one another. There would all the time be a relentless wrestle to work on the largest initiatives for cash, price range, and alternatives.

Tasks had a behavior of overlapping – one group would launch one thing which might then break one thing within the challenge of one other group. PI Preparation is the primary time that many of those very massive companies have joined their groups in an area or on the identical name to talk to one another. They’re given the chance to nut out these essential talks about who’s engaged on what. Whenever you enter a code or a code repository, it’s worthwhile to know the way it can have an effect on one other group. You may additionally must do some work to permit one other group to work first (and vice versa) on their function.

An ART (agile launch practice) is a shared goal achieved by the soul of the totally different groups that work collectively. In very massive firms, there could be three trains working collectively, and that’s the reason why the groups must step again each eight to 12 weeks and ensure that they proceed to work in direction of the general imaginative and prescient and firm objectives.

Right here’s what PI Planning enforces:

• Communication
• Visibility
• Collaboration

Because of this, groups can extra simply get work executed, ship extra updates in much less time, and stay on price range.

• Executing the PI /Agenda- It is extremely essential to know the steps concerned in executing PI. Let’s attempt to perceive the identical:

1) Preparation: It would cowl the conditions for profitable PI.

• Group preparation : PI conferences are presupposed to be organized nicely upfront, and it is very important name under consideration all of the stakeholders and leaders concerned in this system. Often, massive organizations prepare this as a quarterly assembly, which helps to speak in regards to the finish of the previous quarter and to set all to ensure that the beginning of the subsequent quarter.
• Content material preparation: For the launch the preparation on the goal and the imaginative and prescient must be made nicely upfront. This needs to be drilled into the group from day one, which is completed by the Firm homeowners and the leaders of the initiatives who’re in one of the best place to take action.  
• Facility preparation: A spacious room that’s twice the scale of the quantity of individuals needs to be ready, the place the workers are in a position to stroll round and ask different staff questions.

2) Agenda:

Setting the agenda is essential and needs to be mapped out on the outset. Motivational audio system needs to be referred to as in, who can take time to recollect the successes of the final PI. All the time present a while for introductions by ice breaking video games. It’s important that the groups get to know one another, in order that they’ll work nicely collectively. All these could be useful in work teambuilding and bringing a social side to the case.

Right here is an instance of an agenda from ScaledAgileFramework.com. It outlines the essential steps for a profitable case.

Day One

• Enterprise Background – The background of the enterprise is  offered by a senior administration member or an organization proprietor who presents insights on enterprise efficiency and on how they can sustain with market calls for and buyer wants.
• Product / Options Technique- The Undertaking administration will define the corporate imaginative and prescient for the subsequent PI. The salient options that can assist obtain these targets will likely be outlined by the corporate administration.
• Structure Imaginative and prescient & Improvement Practices – Subsequent, the Methods Architect or IT division will discuss in regards to the techniques and architectural imaginative and prescient for infrastructure upgrades that can assist improve market time and can have an effect on progress in the course of the upcoming PI. Course of adjustments related to Agile that will enhance velocity and communication will likely be mentioned.
• Preparation Background & Lunch – After this, it’s the flip of the Launch Practice Engineer (RTE) to elucidate the planning course of for PI and what the groups and the final assembly are required to do. The deliberate outcomes for the assembly will likely be mentioned, and any questions from the Staff will likely be addressed.
• Staff breakouts- Groups will meet across the boards (analogue or digital) to measure their tempo for every iteration and have a look at their backlogs and what must be progressed to assist the performance outlined within the imaginative and prescient. They are going to apply their draft plans to overview and supply enter to all of the groups. They will want to acknowledge and mitigate potential threats and addictions.
• Draft Plan Overview- Throughout this time-boxed assembly, groups will ship their draft plans and obtain enter from product homeowners, firm homeowners,  stakeholders and different groups. They might use the suggestions to fine-tune their drafts earlier than consulting the administration. They may also talk about potential points to be addressed by the administration.
• Overview by Administration and Downside Fixing- Draft plans would additionally increase issues with design, scale, and other people and useful resource constraints. Solely the administration renegotiation and future options might usually resolve these issues. The RTE (Launch Practice Engineer) organizes this assembly and stakeholders and enterprise homeowners should come out of the assembly with a brand new set of objectives or options for the groups

Day 2 Agenda

• Program Changes- In the beginning of the day,  adjustments or selections taken on the problem-solving assembly by administration and stakeholders will likely be thought-about. Groups are apprised of those adjustments and selections and priorities could also be revisited. These changes will likely be placed on the board of the corporate so that every one departments can have a look and reorganize themselves.
• Breakouts- Throughout breakouts, groups take the adjustments again to their dialogue assembly and are available again to this system board with their PI targets. Firm homeowners might assign values to every of the objectives and fee them for execution. At this stage, groups will get a clearer sense of their targets within the context of the iterations forward.
• Closing Plan Overview and Lunch- Lastly, every group will carry their plans to the entrance and current them. Threats and dependencies will likely be listed out on the end of the presentation. Whereas this isn’t the time to attempt to repair these issues, the varied plans are posted to permit the groups to overview and get inputs from others.

Program Dangers-All groups listed their dangers and dependencies within the previous section. Now that every one the objectives are written, the groups will deal with every threat in flip and resolve whether or not they are often resolved. The dangers fall into one among beneath classes:

Resolved-The groups conclude after dialogue that the subject is now not an issue.  

Owned – Somebody on the practice takes possession of the merchandise to work on a later decision of the difficulty.  

Accepted – Sure threats are merely information or future points that must be acknowledged and embraced.  

Mitigated- Groups will strategize collectively to mitigate a threat merchandise ‘s results. The answer or repair is carried out.

• Belief Vote – As soon as all of the challenges and targets are mentioned and addressed, the groups can vote on their conviction that the goal could be achieved within the coming PI. The Belief vote is a quintessential vote, when group members can maintain up one to 5 fingers in a present of arms. Something that’s lower than a three-finger poll needs to be re-looked at.The group member who has a difficulty with that exact purpose would want to offer extra readability, in order that the groups can repair it. As soon as the difficulty has been resolved, the goal of attaining a vote of confidence for the approaching PI is once more put to vote.
• Retrospective – The RTE may have a quick retrospective on the PI Planning case on the very finish of the assembly to gather enter about what was going nicely for the case, and what must be modified or enhanced for the subsequent occasion.

This plan could also be superb for you or you possibly can change it in keeping with the wants of your group. Distributed groups, very massive ARTs, and different components can require the schedule to be modified in a inventive manner. You will see some periods require extra time, whereas others might must be shortened. If it is your first PI Planning expertise, attempt the common agenda, get enter out of your group and play with totally different codecs.

PI Output- The output which comes out from PI planning is as follows :

• Good objectives are set by every collaborating group.
• This system supervisor updates this system board primarily based on PI output.
•  The function checklist is accepted by every collaborating group.
• The brand new launch date for options is aligned between groups.
• Dependencies of roles (between groups and different ARTs) are set.
• Milestones are famous down.

Planning for PI presents many enterprise benefits together with:  

• Establishing face-to – face contact with the stakeholders and all group members – It’s essential to maintain everyone centered on the occasion.  
• Establishing the social community relies on the ART – The aim of icebreakers and team-building video games is to assist instill belief and collaboration even for distant group members.
• Matching progress on enterprise objectives with the enterprise background, imaginative and prescient, and priorities of the Staff and Program PI – Everybody comes collectively in order that they really feel like part of the method and are in a position to grasp the imaginative and prescient of the group.
• Discovering similarities and selling cross-team and cross-ART communication – Many individuals who’ve been nearly in contact are actually in a position to put a face to a reputation. When resolving issues, dependencies and threats, it is essential for everybody to really feel comfy reaching out for assist and discovering out how the groups can work collectively.
• Fast resolution making –No want to fret if they’ve acquired your textual content or wait for somebody to get again to you when everyone seems to be collectively. Reasonably than days or perhaps weeks, discussions and selections happen in minutes or hours.

When is PI Planning held?

Many companies assume that the proper time frame for an increment is Eight-12 weeks (which provides as much as Four-6 x 2-week iterations).  

Some companies preserve PI Planning quarterly, for instance:  

• Q1 PI: December  
• Q2 PI: March  
• Q3 PI: June  
• This autumn PI: September  

However timing and length rely on how lengthy every section of this system is deliberate to final. The constructive factor about PI Organizing actions is that they occur often on a set timetable, so you possibly can plan nicely upfront for them. Meaning there’s loads of discover from groups and enterprise homeowners to make sure they’ll flip up for the case.

What’s a pre-PI Planning occasion and when is it wanted?

Because the two-day PI Preparation case clearly is simply not sufficient, pre-planning occasions could also be required. These exist for an excellent goal  -to ensure that the ART is synchronized earlier than PI Preparation is carried out throughout the wider Answer Practice. It is all about synchronizing with the opposite ARTs to make sure that the reply strikes in the suitable course, together with the group. What usually occurs is that key individuals from the Answer Practice, together with members from the ARTs and associated suppliers get collectively. Listed below are a number of the individuals you will discover at such an organizing occasion :  

• Answer Practice Engineer
• Answer Administration
• Answer Architect/Engineering
• Answer System Staff
• Launch Practice Engineers
• Product Administration
• System Architects/Engineers
• Prospects

They will have a look at the highest Undertaking Backlog, Undertaking Objective, Imaginative and prescient, and Answer Roadmap capabilities. It is quite a bit like PI Preparation, however at the next degree, by the answer as an entire and never simply the person work. The occasion begins with every ART summing up its earlier increment and achievements in an effort to set the context. A senior govt would then temporary the attendees on the present scenario earlier than Undertaking Administration addresses the brand new imaginative and prescient of the challenge and any enhancements from what had beforehand been mentioned.

Distant Groups should be engaged and accountable

The Agile Manifesto says, “A face-to – face interplay is the best and environment friendly methodology of conveying info to and inside a growth group.”  

Holding the members of the distant group concerned and centered on the planning duties could be difficult certainly. A variety of video convention companies can be found in the marketplace that permit groups not solely to hold out video conferencing with particular person members, but in addition to work together with native groups with cameras. Everybody can see and talk with each other in the identical manner as in the event that they had been all seated in a convention room collectively.  

Functions like Zoom / Net ex / Google Meet /Microsoft Staff supply video conferencing amenities for groups and can be utilized for group periods for PI preparation. Distant individuals could be requested to maintain their cameras on to allow them to be seen.

Conclusion

Throughout the grand scale of immediately’s growth surroundings, groups are sometimes divided throughout geographies. Staff members who’re going to be on-the-spot can attend the PI assembly in particular person, however complete teams won’t be able to take part from the identical location. Distant groups ought to have the ability to collaborate and provides their suggestions, to ensure that SAFe to develop.

In such circumstances, RTEs and firm homeowners must assume outdoors the field as on-line applied sciences evolve. They need to put together to prepare and practice groups to make use of these know-how assets for efficient collaboration.  

The extra incessantly the groups use the instruments, the easier it’s going to be to make use of them for main occasions like PI Preparation and various iteration conferences and ceremonies. For solutions to questions, usually groups working throughout the similar constructing will revenue from offering a distant supply of information and a standard supply of fact throughout the group. It may additionally assist to encourage group members to know their stakeholders and product managers, in order that on the proper time the suitable individuals can reply the suitable questions.

Groups who’re in a position to meet this problem will profit from the biggest pool of abilities and experience, and may get set to reap the best likelihood of success on this fast-paced trade.