After almost a full remote year for all CCS employees, it was essential for everyone to be able to get together and share team moments. The PI Planning that took place in mid-September was a good opportunity to do so. Indeed, the teams met in the superb location called the NeXT in Paris (Sopra Steria Decision Center). For two days, the CCS members were able to enjoy moments of face-to-face exchanges, intense co-working and conviviality in the heart of Paris.
An important face-to-face event
These two days of face-to-face meetings allowed the teams to express themselves more easily, to share informal exchanges moments during meals and coffee breaks, which are essential to create links and cohesion between the teams. The whole event was organized around group work using whiteboard, while maintaining Klaxoon as the support for all SAFe PI planning artefacts (containing important information and outcomes of the event). Given the real enthusiasm of the teams for this kind of face-to-face event, the next PI Planning, in mid-November, should also be held with the same principle (according to sanitary situation).
PI Objectives, how does it works?
PI Objectives are key outcomes of the PI Planning, so how do you set them up and how does it work?
As named, they are objectives but the particularity is that they must be written in natural language by each teams, they represent a point of convergence between the teams (who write them) and the business owners (who approve them). These objectives are those on which the teams commit themselves for the PI, the importance of engagement is crucial. They are separated into two categories: committed and uncommitted (present a risk of not being achieved for different reason such as a significant dependency with external team). All the committed and uncommitted objectives are then taken into account in the teams’ planning in order to anticipate possible deviations.
These objectives must be as SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound) as possible, so that they are the less open to interpretation and understandable by all (simple language). They can be of different natures (they are not necessarily only deliverables), they can be related to the development, the writing of procedures, the organization, etc.
At the end of the PI Planning, during the Final Review, all the teams present their objectives, as well as the risks raised. This step allows each team to take responsibility for the others and to have a global vision of each team. Objective is gaining perspective on these elements in order to group and prioritize them. The managers will thus have a high-level vision of what is planned during the increment. The grouped objectives can then be used to create the overall program objectives for communication purpose (with the Steering Group, for example).
Finally, the teams regularly assess the progress towards meeting these objectives during weekly meeting. It helps both providing visibility on the PI progress and allowing early decisions in case problems are raised.
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