Lesson 5

Finishing the PI

SAFe® Course - Attending this course gives learners

access to the SAFe® Scrum Master exam and related
preparation materials.

© Scaled Agile. Inc.

Lesson Topics
5.1 Coach the IP Iteration

5.2 Prepare the team for

the Inspect & Adapt event

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Workbook 155 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

 Learning objectives

At the end of this lesson you should be able to:

► Explore how to coach the IP Iteration

► Discuss the six steps of the problem-solving workshop

► Discuss how to prepare the team for the Inspect & Adapt event

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 5-3

5.1 Coach the IP Iteration

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 5-4

Workbook 156 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

 Innovation and Planning (IP) Iteration

Facilitate reliability, PI readiness, planning, and innovation

► Innovation: Opportunity for
innovation, hackathons, and
infrastructure improvements “Provide sufficient capacity
► Planning: Provides for cadence- margin to enable cadence.”
based planning —Donald G. Reinertsen, The Principles
of Product Development Flow
► Estimating guard band for cadence-
based delivery

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 5-5

Example IP Iteration calendar

Sunday Monday
Sunday Monday
Monday Tuesday
Tuesday
Tuesday Wednesday
Wednesday
Wednesday Thursday
Thursday
Thursday Friday Friday Saturday
Friday Saturday

Buffer for
Buffer for leftover
leftover work
work
Final verification… buffer
and for overflow
validation, work …
and documentation (if releasing)
Final verification and validation, and documentation (if releasing)

… skills development
Innovationand learning …
Innovation
PI planning readiness
… prepare for PI
PI planning Planning …
readiness

… innovations and hackathon …

Optional
Solution Continuing
PI planning
time for
Train Pre-PI education Optional time
distributed
Continuing Business context Planning
planning education adjustments
for distributed
planning
Product / solution
planning
PI PlanningTeam breakouts
vision Optional
PI planning PI planning
Day 1 vision
Architecture Day 2 time for
Innovation Inspect and development Final plan review
distributed
continues practices and lunch Solution
& Adapt
Inspect and planning
Innovation Train
continues adapt Planning
requirements Post-PI
workshop
Inspect and lunch
planning
PI planning & Adapt
Day 1 Day 2
PI confidence vote
Team breakouts
readiness
PI Event Plan rework if
necessary
PI planning
Planning Draft plan review
readiness
readiness Management
review and
Planning
retrospective and
problem-solving moving forward

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 5-6

Workbook 157 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

 Without the IP Iteration...

► Lack of delivery capacity buffer impacts predictability

► Little innovation; the tyranny of the urgent

!
► Technical debt grows uncontrollably TROUBLE
AHEAD
► People burn out

► No time for teams to plan, demo, or improve together

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 5-7

5.2 Prepare the team for the Inspect &

Adapt event

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Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 5-8

Workbook 158 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

 Improving results with the Inspect & Adapt event

► Three parts of Inspect & Adapt:

1. The PI System Demo

2. Quantitative and qualitative measurement

3. Problem-solving workshop

► Timebox: 3 – 4 hours per PI

► Attendees: Teams and stakeholders

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 5-9

PI System Demo

► At the end of the PI, teams

demonstrate the current state of
the Solution to the appropriate
stakeholders
► Often led by Product Management,
POs, and the System Team
► Attended by Business Owners,
stakeholders, Product
Management, RTE, Scrum
Masters, and teams
► Timebox: 45–60 minutes

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 5-10

Workbook 159 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

 Team performance assessment

► All teams’ PI Objectives assigned a business Team PI Performance Report

value between 1 and 10
Business Value
Objectives for PI 3 Plan Actual

► Review and rate your PI achievements: Structured locations and

validation of locations

Build and demonstrate a proof

of concept for context images

Implement negative triangulation

– Consider how well you did against your stated

by: tags, companies and people

Speed up indexing by 50%

Index 1.2 billion more web pages

objectives, including timeliness, content,

Extract and build URL abstracts
Uncommitted Objectives
Fuzzy search by full name

and quality Improve tag quality to 80%

relevance

Totals:
% Achievement: 90%

– Rate performance on a scale between zero

© S c aled A gile, Inc .

ART Predictability Measure

and the planned business value
► Average these across all objectives and give
yourself an ART percent achievement score

► Suggested timebox: 45–60 minutes

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 5-11

Team PI performance report

► The planned total does not include uncommitted

objective points Business Value
Objectives for PI 3 Plan Actual

► Actual total includes uncommitted objectives Structured locations and

validation of locations

Percent achievement equals actual total divided

Build and demonstrate a proof
► of concept for context images
by planned total Implement negative triangulation
by: tags, companies and people

► A team can achieve greater than 100% (as a result Speed up indexing by 50%

of uncommitted objectives achieved) Index 1.2 billion more web pages

Extract and build URL abstracts

► Effort required for uncommitted objectives is Uncommitted Objectives

included in the load (not extra work the team does Fuzzy search by full name

on weekends) Improve tag quality to 80%

relevance

Totals
► Individual team totals are rolled up into the ART % Achievement: 90%
predictability report
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 5-12

Workbook 160 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

 Measure ART Predictability

The report compares actual business value achieved against planned

business value.
ART Predictability Measure
120
Target: Effective process
control range
100
ART Objectives Achieved

Predictability sufficient
to run the business
80
Handles common
variations
60
Special causes may still
cause excess variation
40

Team A: Out-of-control development

20 Team B: Controlled development
ART
0
PI 1 PI 2 PI 3 PI 4 PI 5

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 5-13

Duration
Video: Inspect & Adapt: the problem-solving 9
workshop and root cause analysis min

https://bit.ly/Video-ProblemSolvingWorkshop

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 5-14

Workbook 161 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

 The problem-solving workshop overview

After a short retrospective, teams systematically address the larger impediments

limiting velocity using root cause analysis.
Identify the biggest root-cause
Agree on the problem to solve Apply root-cause analysis and 5 whys
using Pareto analysis
People Process
Cause of
cause of
cause 1

Insufficiently Cause of
cause 1
Votes
X reliable release Cause 1 Insufficiently
reliable release

commitments
commitments

Cause Cause Cause Cause Cause Cause

Tools Program Environment 1 2 3 4 5 6

Restate the new problem for the biggest

Brainstorm solutions Identify improvement backlog items
root-cause

Insufficient
X architectural
runway
NFRs

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 5-15

The Scrum Master’s role in Inspect & Adapt (I&A)

Best practices Common anti-patterns

Facilitate the team’s preparation for the Pl
Only the PO presents in the Pl System Demo
System Demo

Provide team data No actionable improvement Features are created

Facilitate one of the teams in the problem-solving Improvement items don't enter the PI
workshop Planning process

Help the RTE make sure improvement items are Scrum Master is more focused on the technical role
included during the PI than the facilitator’s role

If using ad hoc teams for the I&A, then Scrum Improvement items are not demoed in the PI
Masters may be participants rather than facilitators System Demo

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 5-16

Workbook 162 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

 Action Plan

Finishing the PI

Workbook 163 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

 Duration

Action Plan: Finishing the PI 5

min

► Step 1: Locate the Scrum Master Action Plan section

in your workbooks

► Step 2: Add more tools and techniques to your Action

Plan by reflecting on the following:
– Why is the IP Iteration important, and how will you coach for
an innovative IP Iteration?
– How will you prepare for the PI System Demo?
– How will you plan for the problem-solving workshop?
– What tools and resources on the Class Page will you use to
facilitate the Inspect & Adapt workshop?

► Step 3: Share one of your insights with the class

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 5-17

Lesson review

In this lesson you:

► Explored how to coach the IP Iteration

► Discussed the six steps of the problem-solving workshop

► Discussed how to prepare the team for the Inspect & Adapt event

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 5-18

18

Workbook 164 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

 Articles used in this lesson

Read these Framework articles to learn more about topics covered in this lesson

► “Innovation and Planning Iteration”

https://www.scaledagileframework.com
/innovation-and-planning-iteration/

► “Inspect & Adapt”

https://www.scaledagileframework.com
/inspect-and-adapt/

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 5-19

19

Continue your SAFe journey with the following resources:

Watch this two-minute video, Scrum Master Watch this three-minute video, Assessing Actual
Quick Tips: Don't Forget to Enjoy Your Wins to Value Achieved at the End of the PI, to reinforce
get thoughts on celebrating in your role and with your understanding of the process of assigning
your team. actual business value and why it is important.
https://bit.ly/Video-EnjoyYourWins https://bit.ly/Video-AssessingBusinessValue
Download and use the “Facilitator’s Guide to Watch this five-video series “Playlist: Inspect &
Distributed I&A,” to ensure thorough preparation Adapt Series” to learn more about each step of
and smooth execution for a distributed I&A the Inspect & Adapt event and why they matter.
problem-solving workshop. https://bit.ly/Video-InspectandAdapt
https://bit.ly/Community-FGIandA

©©Scaled
Scaled Agile.
Agile, Inc.
Inc. 5-20

Workbook 165 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

 Continue your SAFe journey with the following resources:

Use the “Root Cause Analysis and Problem- Listen to this 15-minute podcast episode,
Solving Board” Collaborate Template to run an “Scrum Master Tips and Tricks, Part One” to
Inspect & Adapt problem-solving workshop with hear a discussion of how to coach teams in
your team. remote, in-person, and hybrid environments.
https://bit.ly/Template-RootCause https://bit.ly/Podcast-SMTipsandTricks1
Listen to this 22-minute podcast episode, Download and share the “SAFe PI Execution
“Scrum Master Tips and Tricks, Part Two” to Toolkit” with your ART to give guidance around
hear a discussion about managing timeboxes, the successful delivery of key ART activities and
the importance of communication and trust events, including the Inspect & Adapt event.
within teams, and awesome Scrum Master tips. https://bit.ly/Community-
https://bit.ly/Podcast-SMTipsandTricks2 ToolkitsandTemplates

©©Scaled
Scaled Agile.
Agile, Inc.
Inc. 5-21

References

Reinertsen, Donald G. The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation of Lean Product
Development. Redondo Beach: Celeritas 2009. 178.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 5-22

Workbook 166 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

Lesson notes
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Workbook 167 © Scaled Agile, Inc.