SAFe Pre Post PI Planning

Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is a leader among the large enterprises scaling. It helps to scale up operations involving lean and agile practices. The SAFe has many processes and tools involved which result in a successful framework.

Agile practices believe in making small structured teams that contribute smaller parts to a whole. But, sometimes these small teams need to cooperate to make a meaningful and focused product with a common aim. Agile release trains commonly known as ARTs come into the picture to constitute a large number of teams together for a better and efficient product. 

PI planning

The Agile release team has many stages involved. Program Increment (PI) planning is one of the most sought-after steps in ART and forms its backbone. PI planning is being followed by many organizations in the industry including the big players. This interactive face-to-face session is meant to ensure that all the ARTs are well-informed about the aims and objectives of the program.

But, when it comes to big ARTs meetings, you should be completely prepared about the points to be discussed in PI planning. Objectives, resolutions, results, aims, framework, end product, etc. have to be perfectly compiled in an interactive presentation for every member of the Agile release team to understand. Thus, the SAFe pre and post-PI planning is scheduled before and after the PI event. 

Without PI planning there is a lack of structured communication among the teams. The teams would be confused and unaware about the work of other teams and that may create a mess. For instance, if two of the teams are working on distinct features without any communication about it then later some dependency arrives which might lead to code rework. Hence it is important to have PI planning.

The goal of PI planning:

PI planning is basically for companies with a large number of teams. Scaled Agile Framework or SAFe PI planning is used to collaborate, synchronize, and align workflows and so much more. As already mentioned, without PI planning there will be no structure to the teams and communication will be very difficult.

Hence the ultimate goal of the PI planning is to align the teams strategically and collaboration among the teams is enabled. 

The idea behind pre and Post PI planning:

Pre and post-PI planning is conducted for ART teams and developers to compile the plan for the next PI and allocate all the resources efficiently in the PI session. Conclusive evidence has shown that pre-PI planning and post-PI planning have given higher outputs and better returns from the program. 

Pre-PI planning is used to include important objectives, manifestos, last-minute plans, and framework-related suggestions for the upcoming PI planning session. This ensures that when every member of the ART is present in the Program Increment planning, every information is passed efficiently. 

Post-PI planning involves putting all the suggestions and results of the PI planning together and making it useful for the bigger plan. Solution demos can be made more interesting and useful by adding the Post PI planning points. This also benefits the future roadmap of the program. 

Business benefits of pre and post-PI planning: 

Businesses all over the world have benefitted from the ARTs and PI planning, but the pre and post PI planning give additional benefits to organizations, which are:

1. To encounter the problems faced by ARTs and solve them through solution trains (putting ARTs of all levels together).
2. To solve all the problems from the solution trains and efficiently solve them through ARTs. 
3. Face-to-face interaction helps in better communication affecting productivity positively. 
4. This also improves 7kinter-ART communication and makes them ready for upcoming projects.
5. This practice also helps the team management to find the right balance between ARTs ideas and solution train. 

Essential things for the Post and pre-PI planning:

Things/Ingredients here mean the inputs that Pre-PI planning needs to be successful. These inputs include:

Solution roadmap, vision, objectives, talent recognition of various ARTs, and the eventual result of the program.

Outputs of the pre and post-PI planning are:

An achievable, realistic, beneficial, and profitable for the organization PI planning objectives.

Highlight the milestones achieved by the ARTs and track the progress covered by all the members present in the solution train. 

A team attending pre and post PI planning must consist of:

Solution train participants, specific members of all ARTs, suppliers, program developers, management, and important architects. 

Important Steps in Pre-PI Planning

SAFe Pre-PI planning should include enough information for ARTs and management to create a proper plan for working. The steps include:

• PI planning structure:

The structure of the scheduled PI planning must be discussed in the Pre-PI planning event this ensures that the PI-planning event goes as expected by the management. Discussing the PI summary beforehand also eliminates the chances of error during the PI event. 

• Solution Vision:

The presenter or the team leader may tell the vision of the solution train that aims to make the program better and more efficient. This procedure during SAFe pre-PI planning ensures that the PI planning event satisfies its objectives.  

• Next PI planning:

Post-PI planning may help decide on the next PI planning, its aim, date of commencement, and people involved.  

• Discussing backlogs:

Pre-PI Planning is the perfect setup to discuss the pending projects and undone work of the program. Team leaders can ask the concerned department to complete the pending work before the PI planning. Post-PI planning events can be used to check out the items from the list of backlogs and reduce the solution chain. 

• Summarising the results:

SAFe Post-PI planning can be used to summarise the results derived from the PI planning event. The summarizing may include:

• Solution level plan: 

This plan is often discussed in the Post-PI planning session where all the participants analyze, evaluate, and compare all the problems. They point out critical points and risks and try to include them in the solution training. 

The risks are classified into various categories so that a better risk assessment program can be executed. The bifurcation may include columns like resolved, in progress, accepted, and rejected. The condition for the solution train to be confident in the next PI planning meet, all risk has to be solved. The members then vote if they are satisfied with the solution train’s work.  

• PI planning chart: 

This chart or report includes all the important points of the PI planning discussion. This chart is prepared in the post-PI planning by the curators and kept aside as it may be asked by many team leaders for further assistance. 

• Rethinking: 

If necessary, the core groups reflect upon the idea of PI planning and meet in a Post-PI planning event and they rework their ideas. This includes follow-up with ARTs to explain the changes in the original plan. 

Reviewing plan and moving forward:

In the end, the leader reviews pre-, post, and PI planning sessions to analyze what was the key decision and what could have been improved. Then, some points are made on how to tackle the major problems faced by the ARTs and finalize the upcoming solution train activities and events. 

Some major benefits of the Post PI Planning session 

1. Coming up with plans for the next PI planning event.
2. Teams get the chance to improve their planning and execution.
3. Allows the team to rework prospects that were left unattended.
4. Provides profitable insights into the solution train demo.
5. Aligns multiple ARTs which helps them coordinate better resulting in more efficient teams.
6. Gives a platform for all team leaders to reflect upon their team’s mistakes and allows for improving them.

Common challenges of the PI planning session

It is not always necessary that the PI Planning sessions go as planned; some certain challenges and difficulties can come your way. A few of the challenges are mentioned below-

Boring sessions: it is very necessary to make the sessions engaging and interesting. Business talks can become boring if delivered in certain ways; a heavy session right from the beginning can be tedious. 

Tech issues: there can be technical issues in any event, but if the session is streaming video and audio, the chance of mishaps increases. Therefore, it’s better to make sure all the equipment is connected and everything is fine beforehand.

Time constraints: when you have a large ART like 12 teams, the presentation of plans and reviews can take a lot of time.

Using the same old tools:  most teams use traditional SAFe Program Boards which can be problematic at times, so upgrading is also important.

Not following the process: it is very important to follow the framework and then accordingly implement the PI Planning events.

Despite all the challenges PI planning still holds an important place in organizations with a large number of teams. Collaboration among the team is very important and that’s what PI planning does.

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Conclusion: 

In conclusion, embracing the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) with pre and post-PI planning is pivotal for enterprises aiming to synchronize and align their workflows efficiently. The structured approach of SAFe facilitates collaboration and communication among Agile Release Trains (ARTs) to achieve common objectives. Simpliaxis further enhances this journey by offering SAFe courses, empowering individuals and teams with the knowledge and skills necessary for successful implementation. Through effective pre-PI planning, organizations can set clear objectives and allocate resources efficiently, while post-PI planning allows for reflection, improvement, and alignment for future endeavors. Despite challenges, PI planning remains instrumental in fostering collaboration and ensuring the success of large-scale agile initiatives