#219 – We Need Your Help

Having a fixed plan that takes up the full capacity of the agile team is not a valid output of PI Planning in SAFe. Instead, the purpose of this cadence-based planning event is to align all teams in the Agile Release Train to a shared vision and mission. Providing a description of the vision, roadmap, Business Context and the top 10 Features of the Program Backlog as input, a successful PI Planning delivers a Program Board and the teams’ committed PI Objectives as output.

Therefore, since the teams in the ART aren’t supposed to do four to six Sprint Plannings at PI Planning, they should have the flexibility to take in work in an upcoming Sprint if a dependent team needs their help.

Remember to always identify ways of eliminating the dependencies going forward, e.g., by having the Stream-Aligned Team learn how to update the Data Warehouse (if security permissions allow it, that is), so the competency is eventually built in the team.