PI Planning works best when teams are aligned before the event, collaboration happens in real time, and risks and dependencies stay visible throughout planning and execution. piplanning.io helps RTEs create that environment with clear focus, better resource visibility, and stronger coordination across teams and ARTs.
What effective PI Planning looks like
To run an effective PI Planning, especially remote, It is inevitable to facilitate the event so
teams understand what they are planning toward
planning is structured with clear guardrails but still provides the needed flexibility
alignment happens across teams and ARTs
risks and dependencies are visible early
the RTE and other business leaders can make adjustments quickly when issues surface
Sticky Notes and purpose specific Boards
Sticky Notes and purpose specific Boards are the core of piplanning.io.
Sticky Notes
Different Sticky Note Types are used to visualize work, add notes and trigger conversations.
Sticky Note Types can have different attributes and functionalities based on: have unique functionalities:
The Board a Sticky Note is visualized on
The mode you're in looking on the board (Plan vs. Execution Mode)
Context specific Boards
In piplanning.io you're working on context specific boards. These are the main three Boards:
Team Board: Every team does have their own board to create their plan, raise Risks and talk about their Objectives.
ART Planning Board: The board where the ART visualizes their deliverables (e.g. Features) and Dependencies.
ART Backlog Board: The starting point for the PI Planning. Bring in your ready ART level work items (Features) and start planning from there.
Prepare for clarity before the event starts
Configure sticky note types and the boards the way it works best for you and your teams and reduce cognitive load
It is completely up to you on how what Sticky Note Types you configure on the different Boards. The beauty of PI Planning: The Sticky Note Types configured on one Team Board, are the same on every Team Board. That reduces confusion and cognitive load.
Start small and expand as necessary.
Foster context specific conversations
Clear and shared working agreements are essential for an effective PI Planning. Stickers and specific Sticky Note Types can help you trigger the right conversations at the right time.
For instance
Use a "Management Question" Sticky Type so teams can raise questions for the business leaders.
Use a "SoS topic" Sticky Type so Scrum Masters can visualize topics they want to discuss in the next Scrum of Scrum.
Using the search you can put together an agenda for your Scrum of Scrums.
Agree on how you'd like to use the different Stickers. A Blue Question Mark might mark that the team does have a question for the Product Manager while a Red Exclamation Mark indicates a problem to be solved.
Facilitate your PI Planning using visual indicators and metrics
On the Team Board and ART Planning Board you're getting a visual indicator once a team is overloading their capacity.
Metrics such as Capacity Allocation, Capacity vs. Load and the Dependency overview help you understand how well your ART is doing and support you identifying bottlenecks.
