One of the things I love most about my job as an agile transformation change agent is facilitating SAFe Program Increment planning with an interdependent group of teams.

I think one of the reasons I like this so much is that in my many years of working with teams literally around the globe I have yet to find a single event that didn’t result in creative solutions to very complex problems and amazing synergy throughout the program. I mean really…how often is anything we do guaranteed success? PI planning is one of those rare things that in my experience always creates value. Why is that?

In almost every PI planning session I’ve had the chance to lead there are inevitably two groups dependent on each other that meet face to face FOR THE FIRST TIME! As crazy as it sounds our day to day grind tends to keep us in the same 100 square feet of office space. Whether its’ someone on a different floor or someone around the world the two days of PI planning are often the only time we get face to face with all the defendant people we work with.
This face to face interaction results in a level of communication that rarely happens outside of PI planning. We do our best with PowerPoints and conference calls but honestly understanding rarely goes beneath surface level in these mediums. Getting together for two back to back days allows for a greater understanding by structured and unstructured conversations. Inevitably at some point in the two days a light bulb finally clicks on and we someone says “Houston we’ve got a problem”. The sooner this happens the more you know information is flowing. And this creates the next benefit I relish the most
Amazing solutions emerge when we get a group of inspired people together. Early in PI planning senior leaders share the vision and the result is a group of 50-150 inspired people that are the key to unlocking that vision. In PI planning you get a diverse mix of teams and roles together in the same room bringing unique perspectives to the game. True synergy can’t help but be unleashed in ways the business don’t regularly experience.
These dynamics play together and result in Senior leadership attesting to the value gained throughout those two days. Yes it’s really expensive to rent space, clear schedules and pay for travel but it’s even MORE EXPENSIVE to  keep doing the same thing day after day and never get those benefits. If you’ve never experienced this makes a commitment just to try it “by the book” just once and then decide if it’s worth or not to continue.

If you’d like help planning and facilitating your PI feel free to contact us here.