Going into the unknown has always generated interest in me, since it brings with it a mixture of emotions to learn. A few months ago I graduated from the Agile Methodologies master’s program, where they explained to me what SAFe was in broad strokes. So when my company offered me the opportunity to attend a PI Planning in person, I said a resounding yes. I am one of those who learns more live and direct than sitting in a classroom.

In this article, I share with you my journey towards my first PI Planning, exploring the unknown terrain and discovering how this essential event can
transform the way we approach collaborative planning across teams.
.

¿Why PI Planning?

The IP Planning, o Program Increment Planningis the event where teams and the Business and the Business area converge to achieve objectives in a collaborative way. In my case, in the PI I attended, there were eight teams from the technology area, and representatives from the business area.

EVENT AGENDA

My day starts sitting with more than 100 people in a room, where they present the agenda for the two days. I am somewhat surprised by the fact that, despite being the only newcomer in the field (this company is already on PI number 8), the purpose of the event and the general rules are detailed.

The event, in this case, covers two days which, in this case, being summer and in a company with an intensive schedule, is shortened to 6 hours a day instead of the usual 8. Each company distributes and designs the agenda according to their schedules, spaces and objectives. The face-to-face modality predominates as a way of detecting dependencies more quickly and fostering collaboration among team members. The presentation of the agenda and stakeholders falls in the hands of the RTE (Release Train Engineer).

During this introduction to the event, the TEN gives the floor to different roles, who present their respective status and objectives:

• The company’s CIO sets the technology strategy.
• The Business Area presents its commercial strategy.
• The Product Manager breaks down the product strategy, outlining a path to 2024 and setting SMART objectives.
• The architecture and business strategy also finds its place.
• RTE takes the stage again to present the PI Planning process, establishing rules and guidelines to be followed during the event.

At this point, I am struck by the importance attributed to the values of respect and communication in the development of PI Planning. These values are printed and arranged throughout the room.

At 9:15, after the Business, Architecture and Product area presentations, each Scrum team gathers around a table. In this particular PI Planning, 8 teams participate, composed of 6-7 members each, including developers, the Scrum Master and the Product Owner. On the walls of each team the IP roadmap is displayed, which in this case covers 6 iterations of two weeks each, totaling a period of 3 months. The teams follow to the letter the same legend of posters (you can never miss them!).

In this company, all teams have refined the IP prior to this planning. According to what I am told, this is a lesson learned from previous PI plannings, where they were unrefined and the result of the planning was more uncertain, causing stress in the teams. I notice this immediately in the lively conversations that arise when they meet, focused on how to translate business objectives into specific team goals, taking into account interdependencies with other teams.

Throughout the morning and the middle of the day, I observe how all the Scrum Masters (who run the world? Girls!) support their teams and coordinate with Product Owners to overcome roadblocks, dependencies, scope changes and other challenges.

One particularly fascinating aspect is the
Scrum of Scrums
. Every hour and a half, as the teams move forward with their plans, the Scrum Masters meet with the RTE to update her on the status of their teams and seek guidance if needed. These sessions, which last about 15 minutes, serve as a team synchronization and mutual mentoring space between the different Scrum Masters.

In the meantime, Scrum teams continue to outline objectives and features they must address to achieve those goals. At this point, you may be wondering how teams plan for the next three months, considering that the first two months are on vacation. Teams start by calculating their capacity and workload, based on which they will design their planning. The estimates for each functionality, together with the dependencies with other teams (such as the Cross-Functional Team, which is crucial for all other teams), are translated into the PI of each team, always leaving a margin as a contingency.

From what some of the Scrum Masters tell me, the teams do not usually coincide physically in the offices. As is well known, the world has undergone a post-pandemic transformation, especially in the technology field, where it is increasingly common for employees to have hybrid employment contracts and only attend offices 2-3 times a week at most. We will not go into detail about the advantages of remote work, but we will highlight one disadvantage: the difficulty in building links with people. This new reality can also generate certain reticence when it comes to communicating freely, often accompanied by thoughtss that we could be annoying. For this reason, the PI Planning event ensures that, for at least two days, all teams physically meet in the same place and align on objectives and the plan to achieve them. If we also consider the catering provided by the company, the setting lends itself even more to fluid conversations and connections. between different team members.

At the end of the first day, it is difficult not to notice the different rhythms between teams. While some have already completed most of the sprints, with only dependencies left to finish, other teams are still planning features from the first two sprints. Before the end of the day, all teams, as well as Business, Product and RTE representatives, are convened for a status update and to communicate changes in business objectives that will affect some teams.