And just to be clear, by PI planning, I also mean big room planning. increment planning or whatever your organisation calls it. 

Essentially, get everyone in the same room, virtual or otherwise to plan and collaborate. 

Happy? Let’s get on with the post.  

On paper PI planning is a great idea. It’s a chance for everyone to come together, celebrate achievements and work together to create a viable forecast. I’ve seen this work well and keep major projects on track. 

However, they do come with a dark side, here are a few things to look out for: 

• Your event prep is getting in the way of delivery.
• Your planning events last more than two  working days.
• Planning events being solely online because you have teams spread across the globe can be an issue, if you don’t have the right culture. 

If any of these sounds familiar, then the planning has probably become an issue for you and odds are you are not  getting a viable plan at the end of the event.

Remember, the whole point of things like PI planning is to bring everyone together and form a viable forecast that everyone believes in. 

So if you are having these problems, how do you fix them?

• Reduce the size of the increment for complex programmes of work. This means shorter and more effective planning events
• Reduce the length of the event if possible, no one can concentrate for 8 hours straight on a video call, especially out of hours, you won’t get the best out of your teams this way.
• Build enough time into the plan to prepare for the next increment. You need to allow time for your team to complete the work committed, AND plan for the next increment, without burning them.

And of course, if you need a steady hand to help you though, you can come to me and I’ll be your guide.