PI planning

Also called: SAFe PI planning, planning increment

PI planning is the event in the Scaled Agile Framework where the teams on a release train plan the next increment of work together.

In SAFe, several teams plan a multi-sprint increment in one event, agree objectives and surface the dependencies between them. For quality, it is the moment to settle who owns testing for each feature, and above all for the places where features from different teams meet.

Integration is where scaled programmes get hurt. If no one leaves planning owning the test of a join between two teams, it will be tested late or not at all.

I have worked in SAFe, including PI planning on a mobile banking programme. I bring three things to PI planning: test ownership per feature, the integration points that need a named owner, and realistic capacity for regression at the end of the increment.

More on this subject: Test practice and leadership. Written by Marius Ene, senior QA consultant. See how I work with teams or browse all terms.