Implementation

Use the following How To section to help you conduct large-group planning session.

Background

The PI Planning meeting is conducted once a quarter with all members of the program to review and plan out the work for the next program increment (PI)/quarter
PI/quarterly planning provides programs the opportunity to come together and decide on the next set of work as a team
The outcomes of the PI Planning meeting include a list of committed objectives, features targeted for delivery, and known risks/dependencies
Planning together allows for quick resolutions to risks, in-meeting commitments on when dependencies will be delivered, and higher confidence in the team's ability to execute on the plan

How to

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

Learn how to hold a planning 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 Meeting: <PI Number>”
  2. Set Date to the scheduled meeting date
  3. Remove the participants sections
  4. Set Goals to the specific leadership jobs that will be covered, e.g.:
    1. “Validate Team Loads”
    2. “Commit to Objectives and Dependencies”
    3. “Review Risk Mitigation”
  5. Click the Publish button to add the page in the program leadership team’s space
2. In Confluence, update the page for the PI Planning meeting
  1. Add a new Discussion Topics row:
    1. Add the link to the program vision from Confluence
  2. Add comment to Notes column for row:
    1. Review program vision for the PI
3. 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. Copy the URL in the browser
4. In Confluence, update the page for the PI Planning meeting
  1. Add a new Discussion Topics row:
    1. Add the link to the Backlog page of Jira Align (above)
  2. Add comment to Notes column for row:
    1. Review business context and proposed features
5. In Confluence, update the page for the PI Planning meeting
  1. Add a new Discussion Topics row:
    1. Add the link to supplied architectural context in Confluence
    2. Ad the link to the Backlog page of Jira Align (above)
  2. Add comment to Notes column for row:
    1. Review architect context and guidance
6. 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
7. In Confluence, update the page for the PI Planning meeting
  1. Add a new Discussion Topics row:
    1. Add the link to the Program Board page of Jira Align (above)
  2. Add comment to Notes column for row:
    1. Reviewing planning context and break out into teams
8. In Confluence, update the page for the PI Planning meeting
  1. Add a new Discussion Topics row:
    1. Add the link to the Backlog page of Jira Align (above)
    2. Add the link to the Program Board page of Jira Align (above)
  2. Add comment to Notes column for row:
    1. Team breakouts
9. In Jira Align, from the Team menu, navigate to the Backlog page
  1. Set the context configuration to Program = <this program>, Program Increment = <next PI>
  2. Set to Viewing: Story Backlog in the upper left corner
  3. Copy the URL in the browser
10. In Confluence, update the page for the PI Planning meeting
  1. Set Discussion Topics to:
    1. Add a row for the URL from the Backlog page of Jira Align (above)
  2. Set Decisions to:
    1. Plan Review - verify team load for the PI
11. In Confluence, update the page for the PI Planning meeting
  1. Set Discussion Topics to:
    1. Add a row for the URL from the Program Board page of Jira Align (above)
  2. Set Decisions to:
    1. Plan Review - review team feature targets, dependencies, and objectives
12. In Jira Align, from the Program menu, navigate to the Risk ROAM Report page
  1. Set the context configuration to Program = <this program>, Program Increment = <next PI>
  2. Copy the URL in the browser
13. In Confluence, update the page for the PI Planning meeting
  1. Set Discussion Topics to:
    1. Add a row for the URL from the Risk ROAM Report page of Jira Align (above)
  2. Set Decisions to:
    1. Plan Review - ROAM risks
14. In Confluence, update the page for the PI Planning meeting
  1. Set Discussion Topics to:
    1. Add a row with the title “Confidence vote”
  2. Set Decisions to:
    1. Plan Review - confidence vote
15. 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, click on the links (to Jira Align) from the page’s Discussion Topics section
2. JOB-TO-BE-DONEValidate Team Loads
  1. ASK Have the teams committed to too much in any of the sprints being planned out this PI?
  2. ASK Have updates to capacity for events like holidays and vacations been taken into account?
  3. ASK Can work shift between teams if some are overloaded while others have capacity?
3. JOB-TO-BE-DONE Commit to Objectives and Dependencies
  1. ASK Are there any additional features that should be linked to this objective?
  2. ASK Do we know how we will measure to validate whether we’ve hit the target value?
  3. ASK Are there any other risks or dependencies we need to account for on this objective before committing?
4. JOB-TO-BE-DONE Review Risk Mitigation
  1. ASK Are there any additional risks we should account for around the delivery of this feature?
  2. ASK If there are accepted risks, is there nothin we can do to help mitigate the risk?
  3. ASK Do we need to escalate any risks up to senior leadership for help?
5. In Confluence, open the page for the meeting
  1. Set Action Items to any actions needed for risk mitigation, or follow-up needs
  2. Modify Decisions to capture the decisions made during the meeting
Meeting Follow-up
1. Confirm that decisions are communicated across the program
2. Share plan for program and stakeholders

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.)
Begin plan execution and prepare for the first Scrum of Scrums to check on progress