Streamline PI planning
Ensure greater alignment across agile engineering teams
Prepare for PI planning
Define what you need to accomplish in the next program increment. Create a prioritized list of features scored by weighted shortest job first. Set up an interactive whiteboard using pre-built SAFe® PI planning templates, adding those features directly to the program board. Then, bring the entire agile release train (ART) and all cross-functional stakeholders together for a multiday planning session.
Set the context
Start your PI planning session by sharing the vision, business objectives, and product roadmap. Present these concepts right from your whiteboard to provide an engaging experience. Then, discuss the key features the ART needs to deliver and what each team will work on — opening up each card to provide more details. Highlight known dependencies to identify risks and coordinate delivery across teams.
Break down the work
Go deeper into the plan during breakout sessions. Multiple agile teams can work together on the same whiteboard to map out their sprint plans. Capture technical requirements, estimate effort, and identify any additional dependencies — moving items around freely to sequence the work. After breakout sessions are done, come back together to finalize the overall plan.
Commit to the plan
Review each team's sprint planning board. Then, assess risks related to scope, resource constraints (like technical, skill set, or team size issues), and dependencies on the ROAM board template. Discuss how you plan to mitigate each risk and adjust the plan as needed. Then, run a fist to five confidence voting session right on your whiteboard to gauge the team's confidence in the plan — no counting fingers needed.
Get straight to work
Wrap up PI planning with a retrospective, reflecting on ideas to improve the next event. You are now ready to build the PI. Quickly turn new items on your whiteboard into actual work in Aha! Roadmaps, Jira, and Azure DevOps. This enables you to make your implementation plan actionable without having to reenter the information into another tool.
Top capabilities for streamlining PI planning
Import your program backlog | Bring work from Aha! Roadmaps, Jira, or Azure DevOps directly into your PI planning whiteboard | |
Create PI planning templates | Start quickly with SAFe® PI planning templates for program boards, sprint planning, ROAM boards, and retrospectives | |
Collaborate with ease | Share your whiteboard with unlimited guests so the entire ART and business stakeholders can contribute | |
Track risks and dependencies | Flag delivery issues and view links between related work items right on the PI planning whiteboard | |
Assess team confidence | Run fist to five confidence voting sessions on the whiteboard to align on a plan that supports your PI objectives | |
Ready to get started?
Use Aha! Develop with Aha! Roadmaps to connect technical work to strategy. Start a free trial or let our product experts — who are all former product managers — show you the possibilities.
