Published on February 3, 2017
WARNING: you probably need to know about SAFe to understand this post…
- Having a regular program increment planning cadence puts the pressure back on the team who prepares the work for build. All of a sudden it is visible that work needs to be supplied in time for planning; this creates decisiveness and urgency of decision making. So if business and/or architecture are “umming and arrghing” on what to do, put a planning date in the diary with the support of leadership and have people run hard to meet it.
- Teams are genuinely pumped, excited and re-invigorated. You have to experience a PI Planning event to understand, but trust me, if your program is suffering from malaise and/or low morale, launching a train with a planning event will lift the vibe significantly, re-booting your culture.
- Leaders will start using PIs to plan benefits and scope delivery. I see a straight swap for the idea of a release to the idea of a PI. Now I know they a completely different ideas but that’s not the point. Planning on cadence, releasing on-demand needs to be coached into the minds of leaders but they will start talking about PI roadmaps VERY quickly after the first PI Planning event.
- Going into a PI event ensures SUPER-clear prioritisation, often for the first time ever in a program that is at scale. My recent PI planning event was probably too scaled with 19 dev teams, three component teams as well as other external vendors BUT the play-back of the final plan provided everyone (for the first time in a year) clear prioritised scope. In fact scope was swapped out ahead of previously “approved” and well-shaped up scope for less defined but higher benefit scope. What was interesting is that the teams could not commit to the new scope because it had solution gaps BUT the business was happy to take an un-committed PI objective ahead of what could have been a committed objective for known scope.
- All the invisible unprofessional behaviour becomes visible BUT dissipates very quickly. At a PI planning event everything is exposed. There is no swapping scope in without everyone knowing about it. People need to justify change in real-time, getting rid of all the invisible work that is NOT prioritised by business but inserted in by well-meaning IT people.
- More risks are accepted but with more intent to deliver value. Teams realise that if they raise a risk it will be discussed in front of everyone; so it ensures people are not just whining but are raising genuine risks for ownership or mitigation. The flip side of this is that people tend to accept more risk and therefore work hard to mitigate issues as they arise (hint: because they feel heard and are empowered).
- Leaders either step-up or are found out in how they participate in a release train and the PI planning event. The “fair dinkum” leaders engage in the process of planning and are keen to drive priorities and be there for the team. People who talk the talk but do not walk the walk are shown up at a planning event.
- It is the BEST social event for teams. PI planning is a team-building investment into your way-of-working. It is as simple as pizzas for lunch on both days and drinks on either day 1 or 2. I have included this in my compulsory budget for a PI planning event as it is that important as an investment in the teaming of your agile teams with management.
I hope these tips are helpful in making the case to launch your train. If you need a hand contact me or Terra Firma Consulting where I lead the agile consulting practice
