Implementation

Use the following How To section to prepare to head into a large group planning exercise.

Background

The program leadership team wants to ensure the larger planning session for the program is a valuable use of time, so reviewing the work ahead of time reduces risk of meeting churn
The PI Planning Prep meeting is conducted once a quarter prior to program increment (PI) planning to ensure all work and teams are prepared to head into planning

How to

This procedure will show you how to use Atlassian products during the PI Planning Prep governance meeting.

How to hold a PI planning prep meeting

Meeting Preparation:
1. In Confluence, use the “Meeting Notes” template to create a page for the meeting
  1. Title the page to “PI Planning Prep Meeting: <PI Number>”
  2. Set Date to the scheduled meeting date
  3. Set Participants to the invited meeting participants
  4. Set Goals to the specific leadership jobs that will be covered, e.g.:
    1. “Check Strategic Alignment”
    2. “Target Features to Teams/Sprints”
    3. “Identify Needs Outside of Program”
  5. Click the Publish button to add the page in the program leadership team’s space
2. In Jira Align, from the Program menu, navigate to the Work Tree page
  1. Set the context configuration to Program = <this program>, Program Increment = <next PI>
  2. Click on the Tree View drop down in the upper left and select “Top-Down View from Epic”
  3. Enable the Narrow to Program and Program Increment toggle in the upper right
  4. Click the “+” to the left of the program increment box to expand the work tree
    1. Click the “+” to the left of the program name to view the targeted epics and standalone features for the program increment
  5. Click on the Capture button in the upper right
    1. Copy the PNG image of the Work Tree from Jira Align (above)
3. In Confluence, update the page for the PI Planning Prep meeting
  1. Add a new Discussion Topics row:
    1. Add the copied PNG of the Work Tree page of Jira Align (above)
  2. Add comment to Notes column for row:
    1. Verify portfolio and program work targeted for PI
4. In Jira Align, from the Program menu, navigate to the Program Board page
  1. Set the context configuration to Program = <this program>, Program Increment = <next PI>
  2. Copy the URL in the browser
5. In Confluence, update the page for the PI Planning Prep meeting
  1. Add a new Discussion Topics row:
    1. Add the URL from the Program Board page of Jira Align (above)
  2. Add comment to Notes column for row:
    1. Target features to teams unplanned sprint column
6. In Jira Align, from the Program menu, navigate to the Backlog page
  1. Set the context configuration to Program = <this program>, Program Increment = <next PI>
  2. Set to Viewing: Feature Backlog in the upper left corner
  3. Click on the Columns Shown button in the upper right corner
    1. Click on the Feature tab
    2. Click the checkbox to display a column for Dependency in the Main View column
    3. Click the Save button
  4. Copy the URL in the browser
7. In Confluence, update the page for the PI Planning Prep meeting
  1. Add a new Discussion Topics row:
    1. Add the URL from the Backlog page of Jira Align (above)
  2. Add comment to Notes column for row:
    1. Verify whether all known dependencies are documented
8. Copy the link to the Meeting page from Confluence into the published meeting notice (i.e. in a Calendar app) to communicate the scope of the meeting and provide pre-reading guidance
Meeting Structure:
1. In Confluence, record the meeting participants in the page for the meeting
2. Click on the links (to Jira Align) from the page’s Discussion Topics section
3. JOB-TO-BE-DONECheck Strategic Alignment
  1. ASK Are these the correct epics we want to focus on during the next PI?
  2. ASK Are these the correct features we want to propose for the next planning event?
  3. ASK Is this the amount of investment we want to make this PI?
4. JOB-TO-BE-DONE Target Features to Teams/Sprints
  1. ASK Is the current plan reasonable for our teams to execute?
  2. ASK Are these the only teams on the program impacted by the work?
  3. ASK Are these the appropriate sprint targets for the planned features and objectives?
5. JOB-TO-BE-DONE Identify Needs Outside Program
  1. ASK Are there any additional dependencies we should associate with this feature?
  2. ASK Who outside the program do we need help from to resolve these dependencies?
  3. ASK Do the known dependencies allow up to move forward with planning the work?
6. In Confluence, open the page for the meeting
  1. Modify Participants to the attending meeting participants
  2. Set Action Items to any actions needed prior to going to PI Planning
  3. Modify Decisions to capture the decisions made
Meeting Follow-up
1. Confirm that decisions are communicated across the program

Output and next steps

Distribute the link to the meeting notes in Confluence to all appropriate stakeholders via the appropriate channels (e.g. email, Slack, etc.)
Follow up on action items