SAFe ®

Scrum Master
Applying the Scrum Master Role
within a SAFe Enterprise

6.0.1

Workbook

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 Welcome to the course!
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Your Learning
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throughout your career.

community.scaledagile.com

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For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 Table of Contents
Privacy Notice.................................................................................10

Course Introduction.......................................................................11

Lesson 1: Introducing Scrum in SAFe............................................14

Lesson 2: Characterizing the Role of the Scrum Master...............38

Lesson 3: Experiencing PI Planning...............................................69

Lesson 4: Facilitating Iteration Execution...................................109

Lesson 5: Finishing the PI.............................................................145

Lesson 6: Practicing SAFe............................................................158

SAFe Glossary...............................................................................164

Workbook 9 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Privacy Notice
Your name, company, and email address will be shared with Scaled Agile, Inc. for course fulfillment,
including testing and certification. Your information will be used in accordance with the Scaled Agile
privacy policy available at https://www.scaledagile.com/privacy-policy/.

Workbook 10 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 SAFe®
Scrum Master
Applying the Scrum Master Role within
a SAFe Enterprise
SAFe® Course - Attending this course gives learners
access to the SAFe® Scrum Master exam and related
preparation materials.

6.0.1

© Scaled Agile. Inc.

Logistics

► Course meeting times

► Breaks

► Facilities

► Technology requirements

► Working agreements

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-2

Workbook 11 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Duration

Activity: Access the Class Page 5

min

► Step 1: Navigate to the

Class Page on SAFe Studio

► Step 2: Select Learn, then

My Classes, then SAFe
Scrum Master (6.0)

► Step 3: Click on the link to

Download the SAFe Scrum
Visit the SAFe Release Train Engineer
Master (6.0) workbook (PDF) Class Page to download the workbook

https://bit.ly/Studio-MyClasses

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-3

Course outline

► Lesson 1: Introducing Scrum in SAFe

► Lesson 2: Characterizing the Role of the Scrum Master

► Lesson 3: Experiencing PI Planning

► Lesson 4: Facilitating Iteration Execution

► Lesson 5: Finishing the PI

► Lesson 6: Practicing SAFe

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-4

Workbook 12 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 The SAFe Scrum Master/Team Coach role

► In SAFe 6.0, the role of the Agile Team

coach is called the Scrum Master/
Team Coach

► This course will exclusively use the

term Scrum Master in alignment with
the course certification

► Both terms are correct and can be used

interchangeably to meet the needs of
teams and organizations

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-5

Duration

Discussion: Spell out SAFe Scrum Master 3

min

► Step 1: Introduce yourself to someone you

don’t know.
'C’ for
► Step 2: Choose one letter from the course ‘Communication’
title. Use it to explain what you hope to learn
in this class.
'F’ for
- Example: “I selected ‘C’ for ‘Communication’ ‘Facilitation’
because I want to know how to communicate better
with my team.”

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-6

Workbook 13 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Lesson 1
Introducing Scrum in SAFe

SAFe® Course - Attending this course gives learners access to

the SAFe Scrum Master exam and related preparation materials.

© Scaled Agile. Inc.

Lesson Topics
1.1 Basic Agile
development concepts
1.2 Scrum basics
1.3 The Agile Team in
a SAFe Enterprise

© Scaled Agile. Inc.

Workbook 14 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Learning objectives

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

► Explain basic Agile development concepts

► Discuss Scrum basic concepts and values

► Identify an Agile Team in the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-9

1.1 Basic Agile development concepts

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 1-10

Workbook 15 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Duration

Activity: Too much work in process (WIP) 4

min

► Step 1: On your instructor’s command, write

the numbers 1 to 26 as many times as
possible until the instructor says to stop
► Step 2: On your instructor’s command, write
the letters A to Z as many times as possible
until the instructor says to stop
► Step 3: On your instructor’s command, write
number/letter pairs (such as 1A, 2B, 3C) as
many times as possible until the instructor
says to stop
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-11

Duration

Discussion: Too much work in process (WIP) 4

min

► Step 1: As a class, discuss the following:

- How many numbers did you write down? How many letters? How many
number/letter pairs?
- How many active projects are you currently juggling?
- How much of your day is actually spent adding value versus running from
meeting to meeting?

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-12

Workbook 16 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Agile economics: Deliver early and often

Waterfall

Requirements
Design
Implementation
Verification

Documents Documents Unverified System System

Incremental delivery

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-13

Deliver value incrementally

Fast feedback

Waterfall
Value delivery

Incremental

Time
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-14

Workbook 17 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Agile frameworks

Agile Development
A general term defined by values and principles

Agile Frameworks
• SAFe • Scrum • Kanban

Practices
• Timeboxing • Frequent demos • Information radiators
• Stories • Test-driven development • Retrospectives
• Team syncs • Behavior-driven • Continuous Integration
• Pair/mob programming development • DevOps

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-15

Duration

Activity: Manifesto for Agile software development 2

min

► Step 1: Locate the activity in your workbooks

► Step 2: Individually fill in the following value statements using the

appropriate phrases

Value statements Phrases

1) _______________ over processes and tools responding to change

2) Working software over ___________________ individuals and interactions
3) Customer collaboration over ______________ comprehensive documentation
4) _______________ over following a plan contract negotiations

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-16

Workbook 18 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Agile Manifesto value statements

Instructions: Type the complete four Agile Manifest value statements by adding the
appropriate phrases:

Workbook 19 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 The Agile Manifesto

We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.
Reference: Agile Manifesto

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-17

The Agile Manifesto Principles

1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early

and continuous delivery of valuable software.
2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development.
Agile processes harness change for the customer's
competitive advantage.
3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to
a couple of months, with a preference for the shorter timescale.
4. Business people and developers must work together daily
throughout the project.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-18

Workbook 20 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 The Agile Manifesto Principles

5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the

environment and support they need and trust them to get the
job done.
6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying
information to and within a development team is
face-to-face conversation.
7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.
8. Agile processes promote sustainable development.
The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to
maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-19

The Agile Manifesto Principles

9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design

enhances agility.
10.Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not
done—is essential.
11.The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from
self-organizing teams.
12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more
effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-20

Workbook 21 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Prepare Share
Discussion: Adopting Agile principles 5 5
and practices min min

► Step 1: Working in your groups, discuss the following:

- Do the Agile values and principles align with the culture in your organization?
- Are there any contradictions?
- Which principle or practice stands out to you?
- What are some of the biggest areas where Agile challenges
traditional development?

► Step 2: Be prepared to share with the class

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-21

1.2 Scrum basics

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 1-22

Workbook 22 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 The roots of Scrum

“The traditional sequential or ‘relay race’ approach to product

development… may conflict with the goals of maximum speed and
flexibility. Instead, a holistic or ‘rugby’ approach—where a team tries
to go the distance as a unit, passing the ball back and forth—may better
serve today’s competitive requirements.”

—Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka, The New New Product Development Game

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-23

Scrum Values

The three pillars of Scrum — transparency, inspection,

and adaptation — support the Scrum Values.

Scrum Values

Courage Commitment Focus Respect Openness

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-24

Workbook 23 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Prepare Share

Discussion: Scrum Values create transparency 3

min
2
min

► Step 1: As a group, pick a Scrum value and Courage

discuss it in the context of your work

► Step 2: Write how this Scrum value increases Commitment

transparency in the process, the workflow,

and the work progress Focus

► Step 3: Be prepared to share with the class

Respect

Openness

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-25

Scrum and SAFe terminology

Scrum SAFe
Sprint Planning Iteration Planning
Sprint Review Iteration Review
Sprint Retrospective Iteration Retrospective
Sprint Goals Iteration Goals
Sprint Backlog Iteration Backlog
Daily Scrum Team sync
Increment Team Increment
The Scrum Team Agile Team

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-26

Workbook 24 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Agile for team: Scrum

System Demos

CD Enabler

IP Iteration

PI Planning
PI Planning

Feature
CI
Story
Enabler
CE

PI
PI Objectives

Iterations

Stories from Story

PI Planning Story
PI Objectives
System Demos
Team
Sync

Iteration System
Goals Review Demos
Story Story Story
Story Story
Local team Story
Story
context Story
Story

NFRs NFRs

Team Iteration Iteration Iteration

Backlog Planning Backlog Deliver Increment Retrospective
Iteration (typically two weeks)

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-27

Iteration basics

► Definition: Iterations are a single

development cycle where each Agile Team
defines, builds, integrates, and tests the
Stories from their Iteration Backlog Iteration Iteration
Planning Execution
► Duration: Each Iteration is the same length, Plan Do

running back-to-back. SAFe advises PDCA

two-week Iterations Adjust Check
Iteration Iteration
► Goal: To deliver new value to the Customer Retrospective Review
at the end of each Iteration
► Avoid adding scope once the Iteration System Demo
has begun

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-28

Workbook 25 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 The Team Backlog organizes the team’s work

► The Team Backlog is everything. If a piece of

work is in the backlog, it might get done. If it
isn’t, there is no chance that it will be done.
► Work sizes may be estimated, but estimates NFRs
do not imply committed delivery. Team
Backlog
► The Team Backlog:
– Is created by the Agile Team
– Is owned and prioritized by the Product Owner
Product
– Represents opportunities, not commitments Owner
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-29

Foundation for incremental development

Implementing Stories in vertical slices is key to incremental development.

► Enables a short feedback cycle
► Allows refinement of understanding of functionality
► Facilitates more frequent integration of working systems
Slice 2
Further
Slice 1 functionality Slice 3
Initial story within the scope Remaining story
STORY functionality of the story functionality

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

As a user, I can … log in with … error … client-side

log in to the correct handling validation
system credentials for incorrect of input
(successful credentials
path only)
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-30

Workbook 26 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 1.3 The Agile Team in a SAFe Enterprise

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 1-31

The Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe)

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-32

Workbook 27 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 SAFe Core Values

Transparency
Transparency

Respect
espect for People
Alignment
lignment
“Before we build cars,
we build people.”

eople
— from The Toyota Way

Relentless
elentlessImprovement
Improvement
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-33

SAFe Lean-Agile Principles

#1 Take an economic view

#2 Apply systems thinking

#3 Assume variability; preserve options

#4 Build incrementally with fast, integrated learning cycles

#5 Base milestones on objective evaluation of working systems

#6 Make value flow without interruptions

#7 Apply cadence, synchronize with cross-domain planning

#8 Unlock the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers

#9 Decentralize decision-making

#10 Organize around value

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-34

Workbook 28 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Positioning an Agile Team in a SAFe Enterprise

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-35

Build cross-functional Agile Teams

Agile Teams are cross-functional, self-organizing entities that can define, build,
test, and — where applicable — deploy increments of value.

► Optimized for communication and delivery of value

► Typically include 10 team members or less

► Contain two specialty roles:

– Scrum Master Team 1
– Product Owner Define Build Test Deploy

Team N

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-36

Workbook 29 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Responsibilities of the Agile Team

Improving Relentlessly Connecting with the Customer

Getting Feedback Planning the Work

Agile Team

Delivering Value
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-37

Agile Teams have two speciality roles

Scrum Master Product Owner

• Facilitates PI Planning • Connects with the Customer
• Supports Iteration Execution • Contributes to the Vision and Roadmap
• Improves Flow • Manages and prioritizes the
• Builds a high-performing team Team Backlog
• Improves ART performance • Supports the team in delivering value
• Gets and applies fast feedback

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-38

Workbook 30 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Nothing beats an gile Team …

► Teams use Scrum and Kanban for Team Agility

► Apply Built-in Quality practices for Technical Agility

Built-in Quality practices

Shift learning left

Pairing and peer review

Collective ownership and T-shaped skills

Artifact standards and definition of done (DoD)

Workflow automation

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-39

… except a team of gile Teams

A self-organizing, self-managing team comprised of Agile Teams operates on

common principles:
► Deliver working, tested,
full-system increments
every two weeks
Product
► Have common Iteration Business
Mgmt.
Hardware Software Quality Testing Compliance Operations Security

lengths and start/

end dates Solution
AGILE RELEASE TRAIN (ART)
► Plan work at periodic,
largely face-to-face PI
Planning events

► Develop on cadence and Cross-functional

Release on Demand Agile Team

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-40

Workbook 31 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Agile Release Trains (ARTs)

► A virtual organization of 5–12 teams (50–125+ individuals)

► Synchronized on a common cadence—a PI

► Aligned to a common mission via a single ART Backlog

WSJF
Continuous Delivery Pipeline

AGILE RELEASE TRAIN

NFRs

ART Continuous Continuous Continuous

Backlog Exploration Integration Deployment

Release on Demand
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-41

ART events

Event Timebox Value

Teams commit to a set of objectives to be delivered

PI Planning 2 days
in the PI

The teams on the ART sync regarding the progress

Coach Sync 1 hour
of the PI

Deliverables are reviewed with stakeholders who

System Demo 1 hour
provide feedback

The ART reviews and improves its process before

Inspect and Adapt ½ day
the next PI

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-42

Workbook 32 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Duration
Action Plan: Focus on promoting and 5
coaching transparency min

► Step 1: Locate the Scrum Master Action Plan section in

your workbooks
► Step 2: Begin adding tools to the Action Plan by
brainstorming the following:
– What are some of the key insights from this lesson?
– What is your plan for promoting transparency in the process, the
workflow, and the work progress?
– What are some techniques you can apply for coaching the team in
Scrum values?
– What tools from the class page can you use to help you coach
Scrum Values?

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

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-43

Lesson review

In this lesson you:

► Explained basic Agile development concepts

► Discussed Scrum basic concepts and values

► Identified an Agile Team in SAFe

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-44

Workbook 33 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 Action Plan

Focus on promoting and

coaching transparency

Workbook 34 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Articles used in this lesson

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

► “S Fe Core Values”
https://www.scaledagileframework.com
/safe-core-values/

► “Lean- gile Mindset”

https://www.scaledagileframework.com
/lean-agile-mindset/

► “S Fe Lean- gile rinciples”

https://www.scaledagileframework.com
/safe-lean-agile-principles/

► “ gile Teams”
https://www.scaledagileframework.com
/agile-teams/
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-45

Continue your SAFe journey with the following resources:

Watch this three-minute video, Welcome to Your Watch this three-minute video, Navigating the Big
Scrum Team, for an overview of what to expect in Picture, to understand how to use the SAFe
your first days on a Scrum team, and the role each Big Picture.
team member plays in executing as a team. https://bit.ly/Video-NavigatingtheBigPicture
https://bit.ly/Video-WelcometoYourScrumTeam
Share this five-minute video, SAFe Overview in Build your knowledge of the goals and methods of
Five Minutes, with your team to give everyone a SAFe to achieve Business Agility with the What is
basic understanding of SAFe and how it works. SAFe? online learning.
https://bit.ly/Video-SAFeOverviewin5Minutes https://bit.ly/Community-GettingStarted

Complete the online learning, Agile Basics, to

learn more about what Agile is and how it
supports value delivery.
https://bit.ly/Community-GettingStarted

©©Scaled
Scaled Agile.
Agile, Inc. 1-46

Workbook 35 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 References

gile Manifesto. “Manifesto for gile Software Development.” Updated 2001. https://agilemanifesto.org.

Reinertsen, Donald G. The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation of Lean Product
Development. Redondo Beach: Celeritas 2009. 31.

Takeuchi, Hirotaka and Ikujiro Nonaka. "The New New Product Development Game." Harvard Business
Review. January 1986. https://hbr.org/1986/01/the-new-new-product-development-game.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 1-47

Workbook 36 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 Lesson notes
Enter your notes below. If using a digital workbook, save your PDF often so you don’t lose
any of your notes.

Workbook 37 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Lesson 2
Characterizing the Role of the
Scrum Master
SAFe® Course - Attending this course gives learners
access to the SAFe® Scrum Master exam and related
preparation materials.

© Scaled Agile. Inc.

Lesson Topics
2.1 Responsibilities of the
Scrum Master

2.2 Characteristics of an effective

Scrum Master

2.3 High-performing teams

2.4 Team events

2.5 Coach the Agile Team using

powerful questions

2.6 Collaborate with other teams

2.7 Resolve team conflicts

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2

Workbook 38 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Learning objectives

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

► Define the role of the Scrum Master
► Identify characteristics of high-performing teams
► Discuss facilitating effective team events
► Coach the Agile Team using powerful questions
► Discuss techniques for team collaboration and conflict resolution

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-3

2.1 Responsibilities of the Scrum Master

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 2-4

Workbook 39 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Prepare Share
Discussion: The role of the Scrum Master 10 5
in SAFe min min

► Step 1: Read the Scrum Master article at

https://www.scaledagileframework.com/scrum-master-team-coach/

► Step 2: In your group, discuss the role of the Scrum Master in SAFe
and identify key responsibilities

► Step 3: Capture your group's key takeaways to share with the class

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-5

Scrum Master responsibilities

Improving ART Performance Facilitating PI Planning

Building High-Performing Teams Supporting Iteration Execution

Scrum Master/
Team Coach

Improving Flow
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-6

Workbook 40 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 The Scrum Master in a SAFe Enterprise

► Works with the RTE to ensure the train meets its

overall PI Objectives
► Coordinates with other Scrum Masters, the System
Team, and Shared Services during PI Planning
► Works with the teams throughout each Iteration
and PI
► Participates in the Coach Sync
► Fosters normalized estimating within the team
► Helps teams operate under architectural and
portfolio governance, system integration, and
System Demos
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-7

Prepare Share

Activity: Agile team roles and responsibilities 8

min
2
min

► Step 1: With your team, draw the

following Venn diagram or refer to the
remote template
► Step 2: Review the Agile
Team
responsibility cards
► Step 3: Place them either in the role Product Scrum
or at an intersection of the Owner Master

Venn diagram
► Step 4: Present your Venn diagram
to the class
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-8

Workbook 41 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 2.2 Characteristics of an effective Scrum Master

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 2-9

Prepare Share

Discussion: Effective Scrum Master in SAFe 3

min
2
min

► Step 1: In your groups, discuss what traits and

attributes you think an effective Scrum
Master needs
► Step 2: Be prepared to share with the class

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-10

Workbook 42 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 Servant leadership

A servant leader knows that their growth comes from facilitating the growth of
others who deliver the results.

“The great leader is seen as servant first, and that simple fact is the key
to his greatness.”
—Robert K. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-11

Act as a servant leader

► Listen to and support team members in problem

identification and decision-making
► Understand and empathize with others
► Encourage and support the personal development
of each individual
► Persuade rather than use authority
► Think beyond day-to-day activities
► Seek to help without diminishing the commitment
of others
► Be open and appreciate openness in others

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-12

Workbook 43 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Scrum Master as servant leader

Trait In the context of SAFe

Listens to and supports • Encourages everyone to express their opinions
team members in • Is attentive to hesitant behavior and body language during Iteration events
decision identification • Helps the team identify positive and negative changes during retrospectives

Understands and • Shares in celebrating every successful demo, feels bad about Iteration failures
empathizes with others
Encourages and supports • Encourages team learning
the personal • Fosters collaborative practices like side-by-side programming, Continuous Integration,
development of collective code ownership, and short design sessions
each individual • Encourages rotation in technical areas of concern like functionality, components/layers,
and role aspects
• Facilitates team decision-making rather than making decisions for the team

Persuades rather than • Asks questions that encourage the team to consider new perspectives
uses authority • Articulates facts, helps the team see things they may have overlooked,
helps them rethink

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-13

Scrum Master as servant leader

Trait In the context of SAFe

Thinks beyond • Sets long-term operating goals for the team like Agile practices to master or new skills to acquire
day-to-day • Examines what is missing to make the environment better for everyone, prioritizes improvement
activities activities and makes them happen
Seeks to help • Facilitates ad hoc meetings (design discussions, Story reviews with the PO, coding and unit testing
without approaches, critical bug-fix strategies)
diminishing the • Helps the team find access to external sources of information like subject matter experts, and
commitment shared resources (architects, UX designers, tech writers)
of others • Helps clarify and articulate the rationale behind scope commitments
• Helps team members prepare for Iteration Review and System Demo
• Helps the team find techniques to be more collaborative
Is open and • Shows appreciation for team members who raise serious issues, even when delivery is jeopardized
appreciates • Encourages and facilitates open communication among team members and with external colleagues
openness • Encourages healthy conflict during team meetings
in others • Gives open, honest opinions

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-14

Workbook 44 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 Duration

Video: SAFe Scrum stories: Madison Fisher 2

min

https://bit.ly/Video-SMStories-Madison

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-15

Prepare Share

Activity: A day in the life of a Scrum Master 7

min
3
min

► Step 1: In your group, brainstorm the typical daily activities that a Scrum
Master as a servant leader would be involved in
► Step 2: Include the following:
– A list of 10 activities
– Time estimates for each of the activities

► Step 3: Share with the class:

– What conclusions can you make about the Scrum Master role?
– Is this a full-time or part-time role?

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-16

Workbook 45 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 2.3 High-performing teams

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 2-17

Common attributes of high-performing teams

► Self-organizing ► Understand work’s impact on organization

► Effective decision-making ► Aligned and collaborative
► Open and clear communication ► Safe atmosphere to take risks
► Value diversity ► Effective, timely feedback
► Mutual trust
► Sufficient resources for local control
► Healthy conflict
► Success focus over failure avoidance
► Clear goals and purpose
► Abilities balanced with challenge
► Concentration and focus
► Engagement
► Ownership and accountability
► Have fun with work and each other
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-18

Workbook 46 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 Stages of high-performing teams

1 Forming

2 Storming
4
3
2
3 Norming
1

4 Performing

Reference: Tuckman, Developmental sequence in small groups

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-19

Duration

Video: SAFe Scrum stories: Sam Ervin 2

min

https://bit.ly/Video-SMStories-Sam
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-20

Workbook 47 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 Prepare Share

Discussion: Building a high-performing team 3

min
2
min

► Step 1: In your groups, discuss the following:

– Have you ever been on a high-performing team?

– What was it like?

– As a Scrum Master, what are some actions you can take to build a high-
performing team?

– How would you sustain a high-performing team?

► Step 2: Be prepared to share with the class.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-21

2.4 Team events

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 2-22

Workbook 48 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Team events: Overview

Event Timebox Value

Backlog Refinement 1 hour Team prepares requirements for Iteration Planning

Team commits to a set of goals to be delivered in the

Iteration Planning 2 to 4 hours
Iteration
Team members sync regarding the progress of the
Team sync 15 minutes
Iteration Goals
Team meets with stakeholders to review the
Iteration Review 1 hour
deliverables and provide feedback

Team reviews and improves its process before the

Iteration Retrospective 1 to 1.5 hours
next Iteration

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-23

The challenge with meetings

► Meetings can be challenging because:

– The purpose is not clear
– There are no actionable outcomes
– They may result in unproductive conflict
– They may be boring
– Conversation may divert from agenda to deep discussion

► Such meetings add almost no value

► Ineffective meetings can (and should) be fixed

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-24

Workbook 49 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 Running successful meetings

► Prepare for every meeting, no matter how short

► Communicate a clear purpose and agenda
► Identify someone to maintain agenda/action items
► Expect participants to know why they are attending, what contributions they
will make, and the expected outcomes
► Leave with clear action items
► Promote and keep to timeboxes
► Be prepared to challenge and be challenged
► Get participants moving and ensure active engagement

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-25

Running successful meetings

► Establish default decisions—decisions should never wait for a meeting

► Don’t bring a problem without bringing at least one possible solution
► Review actions taken to meet commitments—enforce accountability
► Use “Yes, and ...” instead of “No, but ...” to keep inputs positive
and flowing
► Take frequent breaks
► Go the extra mile to bring remote participants into the discussion
► Maintain communication beyond the meeting

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-26

Workbook 50 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Prepare Share

Discussion: Best or worst meeting ever 5

min
5
min

► Step 1: In your group, share a personal story about your best or

worst meeting experience
► Step 2: Outline some reasons why the meeting was bad, or what
made the meeting great
► Step 3: Share with the class

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-27

2.5 Coach the Agile Team using powerful questions

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 2-28

Workbook 51 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 Coaching with powerful questions

Coaches don’t give people the answer. Instead, they guide people to the solution.

“A problem well stated is half solved.”

— John Dewey, Dictionary of Education

Portrait of John Dewey. Photo used

with permission from Library of Congress.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-29

Shift towards new behaviors

Move away from... Move toward...

Coordinating individual contributions Coaching the whole team to collaborate

Acting as a subject matter expert Being a facilitator

Driving toward specific outcomes Being invested in the team’s overall performance

Knowing the answer Letting the team find their own way

Directing Guiding

Talking about deadlines and technical options Focusing on business value delivery

Driving ‘the right’ (your) decisions Doing the right thing for the business right now

Fixing problems rather than helping others fix them Facilitating team problem-solving
Reference: Adkins, Coaching Agile Teams
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-30

Workbook 52 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 Why are questions powerful?

► They are thought-provoking

► They generate curiosity in the listener
► They channel focus
?
► They generate energy and forward movement
?
?
► They stimulate reflective conversation
► They surface underlying assumptions
►

►
They invite creativity and new possibilities
They inspire more questions
?
► They help reach for deep meaning
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-31

Powerful questions you can ask

Powerful questions like these can help connect ideas and generate deeper insights.

► What new connections are you making? ► What has been your major learning,
insight, or discovery so far?
► What had real meaning for you from
what you’ve heard? ► What is the next level of thinking we
need to do?
► What surprised you?
► What do we need more clarity about?
► What challenged you?
► What hasn’t been said that would help
► What’s missing from this picture so far?
us reach a deeper level of
► What is it we’re not seeing? understanding and clarity?
► What would you do if success
was guaranteed?

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-32

Workbook 53 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 Prepare Share

Activity: Powerful questioning 8

min
2
min

► Step 1: Working in your group, select one person to play the role of the Scrum Master.
► Step 2: The group brainstorms an issue with a deadline they are currently facing and
presents it to the Scrum Master.
► Step 3: The Scrum Master coaches the team to resolve the issue by only responding
in one of two ways:
– Reflective listening: “I hear you saying …”
– Asking a powerful question
► Step 4: As a Scrum Master, share your experience with the class:
– Were you able to guide the team with powerful questioning rather than telling them what
to do?

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-33

2.6 Collaborate with other teams

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 2-34

Workbook 54 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Collaboration with other teams

The team should:

► Integrate their work often with other teams on the ART (at least
multiple times per Iteration)
► Work with the System Team on automated system-level tests
► Join other team's planning events, demos, or syncs when
important issues arise
► Work with the System Architect to better manage dependencies
with other teams

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-35

Duration
Video: Quick tips: Scrum Master / Team 1
Coach community

https://bit.ly/Video-SMTips-Community

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-36

Workbook 55 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 Duration
Discussion: Actively engage with other 5
Scrum Masters min

► Step 1: Discuss the importance of collaborating with other Scrum

Masters, and the ways a Scrum Master can engage with their community.
Some examples include:
– Work together with other Scrum Masters to organize and maintain
communities of practice
– Actively participate in the ART Sync
– Coordinate the implementation of ART improvement backlog items
– Visit other teams’ Scrum events and invite other teams to yours
– Self-organize with other Scrum Masters and the RTE to optimize the whole

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-37

Coach Syncs

ARTs continuously coordinate Synchronize and keep

dependencies through Coach Syncs. the train on the tracks

► The Coach Sync is a meeting for

Scrum Masters and the Release RTE
Train Engineer to gain visibility into
team progress and
ART impediments
► It is typically held weekly (more
frequently if needed)
► It is timeboxed but is followed by a
meet-after for problem-solving

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-38

Workbook 56 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 2.7 Resolve team conflicts

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 2-39

Teams produce results

► Teams are far more productive than the same number

of individuals
► Face-to-face communication is extremely efficient
► Teams perform best when they have planned periods
of focused, uninterrupted work
► Products are more robust when a team has all the
cross-functional skills necessary
► When teams themselves make a commitment, they
will probably figure out how to meet it
► Changes in team composition can impact productivity
► Peer pressure is a strong motivator

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-40

Workbook 57 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 Prepare Share

Activity: Dysfunction in action 8

min
2
min

► Step 1: Select one member in your group to play the role of the
Scrum Master and another to play the role of a developer. Everyone
else will play the role of the team.
► Step 2: Read the scenario in your workbook and the parts for the
Scrum Master, John (the developer), and the team.
► Step 3: Reenact the parts following the instructions.
► Step 4: Share your experiences with the class:
– What dysfunctions do you see playing out in this team?
– As a Scrum Master, what do you do about it?

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-41

The five dysfunctions of a team

► Teamwork is the ultimate

competitive advantage.
However, many teams
are dysfunctional.
► Absence of trust is the
key problem that leads
to the other
four dysfunctions.

Source: Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-42

Workbook 58 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 Role Play: Dysfunction in action

Team Dysfunction During Retrospective

Scene 1
The Scrum Master of the team is facilitating a Team Retrospective. The team is gathered
together to discuss the results of the Iteration.

SCRUM MASTER: It looks like we were unable to achieve the Iteration goals.
What happened?

TEAM: Well, we spent a lot of time on unplanned work dealing with defects from
previous Iterations.

JOHN THE DEVELOPER: I can fix all of the defects myself! Just let me work on my own
and stay out of my way!

Team members exchange looks or silently look at the ground.

Workbook 59 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 SAFe helps address the five dysfunctions

Results are empirically reviewed at the end of every Iteration and release. Iteration
Retrospectives drive continuous improvement.

Stakeholders, peer pressure, and review of results drive accountability.

Teams make shared commitments to each other and to external stakeholders.

Scrum creates a safe environment for conflict; the Scrum Master encourages
discussion of disagreements. Shared commitment avoids individual conflict that
occurs when objectives are not aligned.

The environment is safe. The team shares commitment and goals, displays hyper-
transparency, and engages in retrospectives.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-43

Avoiding ideological/personal conflicts

► A leader should spend far more time helping things

go right than dealing with things that are going wrong
Correct
► Help others see their teammates as human beings the situation
with their own needs, cares, worries, and objectives
(instead of as obstacles) Listen Build the
relationship
► Help the team set a common vision, goals, and values
Communicate
► Start gradually, dealing with long-term tension within
the team Avoid warfare
mindset
► Educate the team on achieving consensus
► Build relentless collaboration
► Master proven conflict resolution techniques
Reference: The Arbinger Institute, The Anatomy of Peace
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-44

Workbook 60 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Resolving conflicts

► Meet with the conflicting parties

► Identify exactly what each party wants
► Identify why each party needs what they want
► Obtain agreement that the common goal is correct
► Dig deeper and review the assumptions
► Challenge each of the assumptions
► Find out what the common goal is that ties these reasons together

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-45

Duration

Video: Quick tips: conflict resolution 2

min

https://bit.ly/Video-ConflictResolution

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-46

Workbook 61 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Working agreements facilitate conflict management

Example working agreements:

► I am committed to the team’s objectives and goals
► I respect other people’s opinions, even when they contradict or conflict
with mine
► If we cannot reach agreement, I will seek and support a consensus decision
► I will always avoid blocking my team from
moving forward
► Whether or not the team decision coincides with mine, I will do my best to
support it

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-47

Achieving consensus

► Define why reaching a consensus is important in this situation.

► Let people exchange thoughts. Begin with someone who disagrees and then
ask someone who agrees to give their perspective.
► Decompose the disagreement. Identify precisely what parts of the idea they
disagree with. Can a portion be removed or modified?
► If that doesn’t work, ask those who disagree to propose a modification to the
idea or exchange alternative ideas.
► Continue exchanging thoughts and finding alternatives until you reach a
consensus or decide consensus is not possible. If consensus isn’t possible,
make a majority decision and clarify that everyone will support this decision.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-48

Workbook 62 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Prepare Share

Activity: Resolving team conflicts 8

min
2
min

► Step 1: Select one member in the group to play the role of the Scrum Master
and another to play the role of John (the developer). The rest play the team.
Note: You can assume the same roles as previously played or switch roles.
► Step 2: Read the scenario and the parts for the Scrum Master, John (The
developer), and the team in your workbook.
► Step 3: Reenact the script.
► Step 4: As a Scrum Master, how would you handle the escalating conflict
between John and the team? What tools or techniques would you use to
resolve the conflict?
► Step 5: Share your experiences with the class.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-49

Duration
Action Plan: Being an effective 5
Scrum Master min

► Step 1: Locate the Scrum Master Action Plan section

in your workbooks.
► Step 2: Add more tools and techniques to the Action
Plan by reflecting on the following:
– What Scrum Master traits do you identify with the most and
will bring to your role? What traits will be challenging for you?
– What are some tools and techniques you can implement for
coaching the Agile Team?
– What tools or resources will you use from the Class Page to
support your team?

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

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-50

Workbook 63 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Activity: Resolving team conflicts

Team conflict

Scene
You meet with the team. Everyone is present but John (The Developer) who comes in late
to the meeting with a negative attitude.

SCRUM MASTER: Thank you for coming together as a team. Is everyone here?
Where is John?

TEAM: Yeah, about John. John is not doing his work. He has been offensive and
extremely difficult to work with.

JOHN THE DEVELOPER: What?! I have been working after hours and all my work is
done! You are being unfair as a team!

The team continues to argue with John. The tension in the team room is rising.

Workbook 64 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Action Plan

Being an effective
Scrum Master

Workbook 65 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 Lesson review

In this lesson you:

► Defined the role of the Scrum Master
► Identified characteristics of high-performing teams
► Discussed facilitating effective team events
► Practiced coaching the Agile Team using powerful questions
► Discussed techniques for team collaboration and conflict resolution

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-51

Articles used in this lesson

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

► “Scrum Master”
https://www.scaledagileframework.com
/scrum-master-team-coach/

► “Agile Teams”
https://www.scaledagileframework.com
/agile-teams/

► “SAFe Scrum”
https://www.scaledagileframework.com
/safe-scrum/

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-52

Workbook 66 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 Continue your SAFe journey with the following resources:

Watch this three-minute video, Quick Tips: Download and use the “Team Formation Toolkit” to
Facilitating Great Team Events, for quick tips and build your Agile Team charter and clearly define your
actions to energize your facilitation of team events purpose, responsibilities and success criteria, and
and meetings. other critical elements necessary for your new team
https://bit.ly/Video-QuickTips-Facilitation to flourish.
https://bit.ly/Community-ToolkitsandTemplates
Download and use the “Facilitation Guidance Brief” Watch this one-hour webinar, Facilitating an Agile
to help you build skills to become a better facilitator Team Charter Workshop, for a detailed review of the
and servant leader. Team Formation Toolkit, and how to use it in team
https://bit.ly/Community- formation events.
FacilitationGuidanceBrief https://bit.ly/Video-AgileTeamCharterWebinar
Use the “Agile Team Charter Virtual Workshop” in Listen to this 21-minute podcast episode, “The Value
SAFe Collaborate to help a remote or distributed of Emotional Intelligence,” to hear a discussion of
team capture the ideas and decisions from the “Team emotional intelligence, how it can help individuals
Formation Toolkit.” and organizations succeed, and the role it plays
https://bit.ly/Template-SAFeAgileTeamCharter in SAFe.
https://bit.ly/Podcasts-EQ

©©Scaled
Scaled Agile.
Agile, Inc. 2-53

References

Adkins, Lyssa. Coaching Agile Teams: A Companion for ScrumMasters, Agile Coaches, and Project
Managers in Transition. San Francisco: Addison-Wesley Professional, 2010. Kindle edition.
The Arbinger Institute. The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict. Oakland: Berrett-Koehler
Publishers, 2015. Kindle edition.
Dewey, John. Dictionary of Education. New York: Philosophical Library, 1959. 106.
https://archive.org/stream/johndeweydiction012543mbp/johndeweydiction012543mbp_djvu.txt.
Greenleaf, Robert K. Servant Leadership. New York: Paulist Press, 1977. 1.
Lencioni, Patrick. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011.
Kindle edition.
Tuckman, Bruce. “Developmental sequence in small groups.” Psychological Bulletin 63, no. 6 (1965): 384-
399.
Tuckman, Bruce and Mary Ann Jensen. “Stages of Small-Group Development Revisited.” Group &
Organization Management 2, no. 4 (1977): 419-427.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2-54

Workbook 67 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 Lesson notes
Enter your notes below. If using a digital workbook, save your PDF often so you don’t lose
any of your notes.

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 Lesson 3
Experiencing PI Planning

SAFe® Course - Attending this course gives learners

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

© Scaled Agile. Inc.

Lesson Topics
3.1 PI Planning basics

3.2 Draft PI plans

3.3 Final plans and

business value

3.4 Final plan review and

PI Objectives

3.5 Facilitating PI Planning

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2

Workbook 69 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Learning objectives

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

► Participate in a simulated PI Planning event

► Create and review simulated draft PI plans

► Review the simulated final plans

► Commit to a set of PI Objectives

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-3

3.1 PI Planning basics

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 3-4

Workbook 70 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

For personal use only - Dounia EL IBRAHIMI - Dec 19, 2023 (ID:0056T000009l1PnQAI)
 Duration
Video: SAFe at Travelport: The power of 3
PI Planning min

https://bit.ly/Video-PowerofPIPlanning

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-5

What is PI Planning?

PI Planning is a cadence-based event that serves as the heartbeat of the ART,

aligning all teams on the ART to a shared mission and Vision.

► Two days every 8 – 12 weeks (10 weeks is typical)

► Everyone plans together
► Product Management owns Feature priorities
► Development teams own Story planning and high-level estimates
► Architect and UX work as intermediaries for governance, interfaces,
and dependencies

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-6

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 The benefits of PI Planning

► Establishes personal communication across all

team members and stakeholders
► Aligns development of business goals with the
business context, Vision, and Team/ART
PI Objectives
► Identifies dependencies and fosters cross-team
and cross-ART collaboration
► Provides the opportunity for the right amount of
architecture and Lean UX guidance
► Matches demand to capacity, eliminating excess
work in process (WIP)
► Allows for faster decision-making
Cross-team collaboration
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-7

The PI Planning process

Input Output

ART
PI Objectives

Team A PI
Objectives
Vision Team B PI
Objectives

Team C PI
Objectives Team J PI
PI Planning
...
Objectives

Top 10
Iteration 1.5
Iteration 1.1 Iteration 1.2 Iteration 1.3 Iteration 1.4 PI 2 >>>
(IP)

Features Unicorns

NFRs
Dolphins

Bears

Eagles

Iguanas

ART Antelope

Tarantulas

Backlog Needs UX Help

Needs Sys
Arch Help

Vision and Top 10 Features Team and ART PI Objectives

and ART Planning Board
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-8

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 Create alignment with PI Objectives

► Objectives are business summaries

of what each team intends to Objectives for PI 1 BV AV
deliver in the upcoming PI.
1. Show routing calculations between the
► They often directly relate to 5 most frequent destinations
2. Navigate autonomously from distribution
intended Features in the backlog. center to the most frequent destination
3. Parallel park for a delivery
4. Return to the distribution center after
► Other examples: delivery
5. Include traffic data in route planning
– Aggregation of a set of Features 6. Recall a delivery that is already in
progress

– A Milestone like a trade show Uncommitted Objectives

– An Enabler Feature supporting 7. Spike: Reduce GPS signal loss by 25%
8. Demonstrate real-time rerouting to avoid
the implementation delays (e.g., accident, construction)

– A major refactoring
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-9

Maintain predictability with uncommitted objectives

Uncommitted objectives help improve the predictability of delivering business value.

► They are planned, not extra things teams do "just in

case you have time" Objectives for PI 1

► They are not included in the commitment, thereby

making the commitment more reliable
► If a team has low confidence in meeting a PI
Objective, it should be moved to uncommitted
► If an objective has many unknowns, consider moving it
Uncommitted Objectives
to uncommitted and putting in early spikes*
7. Spike: Reduce GPS signal
loss by 25%
► Uncommitted objectives count when calculating load 8. Demonstrate real-time
rerouting to avoid delays
(e.g., accident, construction)

*Spikes are research Stories, considered exploration-style Enablers.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-10

Workbook 73 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Outcomes of the PI Planning simulation

Actively participating in a simulated PI Planning event will reinforce:

Communication Estimating Drafting Managing Risks

Experience the Capacity Objectives Experience managing
business benefits Experience Experience drafting ART PI Risks
of establishing estimating capacity PI Objectives
communication for the Iteration for achieving the PI
across all team and committing
members and to the plan
stakeholders

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-11

Features represent the work for the Agile Release Train

► The Feature benefit hypothesis

justifies development costs and Multi-factor authentication
provides business perspective
for decision-making Benefit hypothesis
Enhance user security via both password
► Acceptance criteria are and a device
typically defined during
Acceptance criteria
ART Backlog refinement 1. USB tokens as a first layer
2. Password authentication second layer
► Reflect functional and 3. Multiple tokens on a single device
nonfunctional requirements 4. User activity log reflecting both
authentication factors
► Fits in one PI
Example Feature

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-12

Workbook 74 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Prepare Share

Activity: Feature writing 8

min
2
min

► Step 1: Consider the following: Your team is tasked with

creating a new Personal Assistance Mobile App

► Step 2: As a team, brainstorm five Features you would

like to see on the new app and write them down

► Step 3: Choose at least two Features and write down

the details, including:
– Title and description
– Acceptance criteria
– Benefit hypothesis

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-13

Features are implemented by Stories

Business Feature
► Stories are small increments of Shipping Method Selection
value that can be developed in
Benefit hypothesis:
days and are relatively easy Users can select a shipping
to estimate method based on cost,
delivery speed, and carrier
► Story user-voice form captures
the end user’s roles, activities, Enabler Story User Story
and goals As a book purchaser
I can see the price for
Research how each shipping method
► Features fit in one PI for one
to calculate the for my current order
ART; Stories fit in one Iteration shipping costs. so that I can select a
for one team shipping method based
on price.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-14

Workbook 75 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Teams break down Features into User Stories and Enabler Stories

► User Stories are short descriptions of a small piece of desired functionality

written in the user’s language
► The recommended form of expression is the user-voice form, as follows:
As a (user role), I want to (activity), so that (business value).

As the vehicle sensor

As a driver, I want to As a driver, I want to system, I want to get
limit the amount of get a receipt after information from the gas
money I spend before I fueling so that I can tank so that I can send
fuel so that I can expense the purchase. notifications about how
control my expenditure. soon a refill is needed to
the driver interface.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-15

Using personas to better understand users

Personas are detailed fictional characters acting as a representative user.

Jane: Mileage-sensitive Bob: Time-sensitive

– Law-abiding driver – Impatient driver
– Obeys all traffic signs – Ignores traffic signs if
– Wants to save on gas they slow him down

As Jane, I want to travel at the legal As Bob, I want to travel at the

limit and operate in an energy saving maximum speed the roadway and
manner so that I don’t get a ticket my vehicle safely allows so that I
save money. arrive quickly.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-16

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 INVEST in a good Story

I Independent Write Stories that can be developed on their own

N Negotiable Write Stories that have a flexible scope

V Valuable Write Stories that are useful to the Customer

E Estimable Write Stories that can be estimated

S Small Write Stories that can fit in an Iteration

T Testable Write Stories that are testable

Reference: Wake, “INVEST in Good Stories, and SMART Tasks”

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-17

Writing good Stories: The 3Cs

Card Conversation Confirmation

Written on a card or in a The details are in a Acceptance criteria
digital tool and can be conversation with the PO confirms the
annotated with notes Story correctness

What about
• Tools have been
As a spouse, I want a the bikes?
put away
clean garage so that I
• Items on the floor have
can park my car and not
been returned to the
trip on my way to
the door.
Oh yeah, we proper shelf
should hang • Bikes have been hung
the bikes.

Reference: Jefferies, "Essential XP: Card, Conversation, Confirmation"

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-18

Workbook 77 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Behavior-driven development: From ambiguity to precision

► Behavior is often first described in general terms, which can be ambiguous

► Specific examples of behavior provide a better understanding

► The examples can directly become tests, or they can lead to specific
behaviors, which then are transformed into tests

Example

Discovery Formulation Automation

of behavior of specific tests of tests

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-19

Acceptance criteria

► Provide the details of the Story from a testing point of view

► Are created by the Agile Team
► Can be written in the Given-When-Then format

As a driver, I want to limit the amount of As a driver, I want to get a receipt after
money I can spend before I fuel so that I can fueling so that I can expense the purchase.
control my expenses.
Acceptance criteria:
Acceptance criteria: Given that the fueling is over
Given that the driver indicated a When the driver asks for the receipt
maximum amount of money Then it is printed and includes:
When the fuel cost reaches that amount amount fueled, the amount paid, tax,
Then the fueling process stops date, time
automatically

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-20

Workbook 78 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Prepare Share

Activity: Story writing 8

min
2
min

► Step 1: Review the Features you wrote for

the Personal Assistant Mobile App

► Step 2: As a team, use the personas and the

3 Cs guidance to write five to seven Stories
with acceptance criteria

► Step 3: Share an example with the class

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-21

Enabler Stories

Enabler Stories build the groundwork for future User Stories. There are four
types of Enabler Stories:

► Infrastructure: Build development and testing frameworks that enable a

faster and more efficient development process

► Architecture: Build the Architectural Runway, which enables smoother and

faster development

► Exploration: Build an understanding of what is needed by the Customer to

understand prospective Solutions and evaluate alternatives

► Compliance: Facilitate specific activities such as verification and validation,

documentation, signoffs, regulatory submissions, and approvals

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-22

Workbook 79 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Spikes and refactors

► Refactors are a systematic approach to improving

the system without changing observable system Complex
behavior problems
– Example: Improving maintainability, performance,
or scalability

► Spikes are research activities to reduce risk,

understand a functional need, increase estimate
reliability, or define a technical approach
– Technical spikes - Researching a technical approach
or unknown
Functional Technical
– Functional spikes - Researching how a user might use or spike spike
interact with the system

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-23

Fibonacci is used for estimation

► A Story point is a singular number that represents:

– Volume: How much is there?

– Complexity: How hard is it?

Story
– Knowledge: What do we know?
How
– Uncertainty: What’s not known?
big
VS.

► Story points are relative. They are not connected is it?

to any specific unit of measure. Story
– An 8-point Story should take four times longer than a 2-
point Story to complete

– Typically, a 1-point Story would take one day to develop

and test
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-24

Workbook 80 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Apply estimating poker for fast, relative estimating

► Estimating poker combines Steps

expert opinion, analogy, and 1 Each estimator gets a deck of cards

disaggregation for quick but
reliable estimates 2 Read a job

3 Estimators privately select cards

► All members participate
4 Cards are turned over
► Increases accuracy by including
all perspectives 5 Discuss differences

► Builds understanding and 6 Re-estimate

creates a shared understanding Reference: Cohn, Agile Estimating and Planning

Warning: Estimation performed by a manager,

Architect, or select group negates these benefits.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-25

The Scrum Master's role in facilitating estimations

Best practices Common anti-patterns

Encourage everyone to participate Pressure by stakeholders to lower estimations

Ensure relative estimates are used Only a few people participate

Focus the discussion around the

Not using the modified Fibonacci scale
contested items

Identify subject matter experts who need to

be present

Keep time spent estimating Stories to

a minimum

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-26

Workbook 81 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Prepare Share

Activity: Relative size estimating 7

min
3
min

Use estimating poker to relatively

estimate the mass of a set of animals.

► Step 1: In your groups, identify the

smallest animal and mark it as 1
Chicken Horse Crocodile Giraffe
► Step 2: Estimate the remaining
animals using values 1, 2, 3, 5, 8,
13, 20, 40, and 100

Gorilla Hyena Elephant

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-27

3.2 Draft PI plans

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 3-28

Workbook 82 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Duration
Video: Introduction to PI Planning: A 3
quick overview min

https://bit.ly/Video-PIPlanningOverview

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-29

Duration

Activity: Identify team names and roles 3

min

► Step 1: Your team is your group. Create a

team name

► Step 2: Select a Scrum Master for your team Product

Owner
► Step 3: Select a Product Owner for your team

► Step 4: Make sure the team name and the

names of the people selected are visible to all Scrum Master
other teams

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-30

Workbook 83 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Duration

Activity: Identify ART roles 3

min

► Step 1: Identify ART roles for Simulation role

Assigned to
Instructor
the simulation
Executive Volunteer
► Step 2: Ensure that you have
all key roles required for the Product Manager Volunteer
PI Planning simulation
System Architect, UX,
Volunteer
development manager

RTE Trainer

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-31

Simulation: Why are we here?

Alignment to a common mission

We are here to gain alignment and

commitment around a clear set of prioritized
objectives. I will now review the agenda for
the next two days of the PI Planning event.

RTE

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-32

Workbook 84 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Simulation: Day 1 agenda

Business context 8:00 – 9:00 • State of the business

Product/Solution Vision 9:00 – 10:30 • Vision and prioritized Features

Architecture Vision and development • Architecture, common frameworks, etc.

10:30 – 11:30
practices • Agile tooling, engineering practices, etc.

Planning context and lunch 11:30 – 1:00 • Facilitator explains the planning process

• Teams develop draft plans and identify risks

Team breakouts 1:00 – 4:00 and impediments
• Architects and Product Managers circulate
• Teams present draft plans, risks, and
Draft plan review 4:00 – 5:00
impediments

Management review and problem • Adjustments made based on challenges, risks,

5:00 – 6:00
solving and impediments
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-33

Simulation: Day 2 agenda

• Planning adjustments made based on previous

Planning adjustments 8:00 – 9:00
day’s management meeting
• Teams develop final plans and refine risks and
impediments
Team breakouts 9:00 – 11:00
• Business Owners circulate and assign
business value to team objectives
• Teams present final plans, risks, and
Final plan review and lunch 11:00 – 1:00
impediments

ART PI Risks 1:00 – 2:00 • Remaining risks are discussed and ROAMed

PI confidence vote 2:00 – 2:15 • Team and ART confidence vote

• If necessary, planning continues until

Plan rework if necessary 2:15 – ???
commitment is achieved
• Retrospective
Planning retrospective After
• Moving forward
and moving forward commitment
• Final instructions
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-34

Workbook 85 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Simulation: Briefings

Executive Product System

Management Architect

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-35

Simulation: Planning guidance

Expect this first PI Planning to feel a bit chaotic.

Future PI Planning meetings will become
more routine.
PO: You are responsible for making decisions at
the User Story level by leveraging your
content authority
SM: You are responsible for managing the
timebox, the dependencies, and the ambiguities
Agile Team: You are responsible for defining
User Stories, planning them into the Iteration, and
working out interdependencies with other teams

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-36

Workbook 86 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Simulation: Planning requirements

Iteration 1.1 Iteration 1.2 Iteration 1.3 Iteration 1.4 Iteration 1.5
Capacity: Capacity: Capacity: Capacity: Capacity:
Feature 1
Load: Load: Load: Load: Load:
Feature 2

IP Iteration

PI Objectives Risks
Focus on the highlighted
PI Objectives BV AV
area for this simulation.

G User Story
Infrastructure
Uncommitted O Enabler
Objectives P Maintenance
R Risks or
Exploration dependencies
Y Enabler
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-37

Duration

Activity: Select the Feature from 5

Product Management
min

► Step 1: Work with your team to select a Feature from Product Management
► Step 2: Ensure this information is visible so it can be referred to during the PI
Planning simulation

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-38

Workbook 87 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Simulation: Using historical data to calculate velocity

Establish velocity by looking at the average output of the last Iterations

Velocity

6 Iterations 180 Story points 30 SP / Iteration

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-39

Simulation: Calculate your capacity

Calculating Iteration capacity: Example:

► For every full-time Agile Team member
contributing to Solution development, give A seven-person team composed of
the team 8 points; adjust for those who three developers, two testers, one
are part-time. PO, and one Scrum Master

► Subtract 1 point for every team member’s

vacation day and holiday.
Exclude the PO, Scrum Master, and
► Find a small Story that would take about time off from the calculation
a half-day to develop and a half-day to test
and validate. Call it a 1-point Story.
Calculated capacity:
► Estimate every other Story relative to that 1. 5 x 8 points = 40 points per Iteration

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-40

Workbook 88 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 The Scrum Master’s role in team breakout #1

Best practices Common anti-patterns

Ensure the team has a draft plan to present No plan or partial plan at the end of the timebox

Identify as many risks and dependencies as

possible for the management review Too much time is spent analyzing each Story

Secure subject matter experts and ART Shared Scrum Masters and Product Owners are
stakeholders as needed by the team not available enough

Facilitate the coordination with other teams Part-time Scrum Masters don’t have time to plan
for dependencies as part of the team

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-41

Duration

Activity: Team breakout #1 50

min

You will be planning a short PI with two Iterations with Iteration 1.1 Iteration 1.2

your teams. Capacity:

Load:
Capacity:
Load:

► Step 1: Calculate and enter the capacity for each Iteration

(two weeks per Iteration)
- The first Iteration starts Monday
- Use your real availability
PI Objectives Risks
► Step 2: Estimate the Stories using Story points PI Objectives BV AV

► Step 3: Load the Stories into the Iterations

► Step 4: Write the PI Objectives using clear statements Uncommitted
Objectives

► Step 5: Identify the uncommitted objectives

► Step 6: Identify any ART PI Risks and dependencies
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-42

Workbook 89 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Duration

Activity: Coach Sync 5

min

► Step 1: The teams observe the Coach Sync, which is conducted by the RTE

► Step 2: Choose a Scrum Master to provide the team’s current status and
address the questions from the RTE

► Step 3: The RTE holds a meet-after following the sync (limited to one or
two topics for the simulation)

Note: Coach Sync questions are on the following slide

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-43

Activity: Coach Sync

Coach Sync Questions Team 1

Have you identified the capacity for each Iteration of the PI?

Have you identified most of the Stories for the first two Iterations and begun estimating?

Have you begun resolving dependencies with other teams?

Are you discussing tradeoffs and conflicting priorities with your Business Owners?

Have you identified any ART PI Risks?

Will you be ready to start writing PI Objectives in the next 15 minutes?

Is there anything you need to discuss with other Scrum Masters? If so, stay for the meet-after.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-44

Workbook 90 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Duration

Activity: Draft plan review 10

min

► Step 1: The teams will present summaries of their first two

Iterations and one or more draft PI Objectives.

► Step 2: Make sure to include the following:

– Capacity and load for each Iteration
– Draft PI Objectives
– ART PI Risks and impediments

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-45

Management review and problem-solving

At the end of day one, management meets to make adjustments to the

scope and objectives based on the day’s planning.

Common questions:
► What did we learn?
► Where do we need to adjust Vision, scope, team
assignments, or anything else?
► Where are the bottlenecks?
► What Features must be de-scoped?
► What decisions must we make between now and
tomorrow to address these issues? Photo used with permission from Hybris Software.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-46

Workbook 91 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 3.3 Final plans and business value

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 3-47

Activities during day 2

Day 1 Day 2
Business context 8:00–9:00 Planning adjustments 8:00–9:00

Product/Solution Vision 9:00–10:30

Team breakouts 9:00–11:00
Architecture Vision and
10:30–11:30
development practices
Final plan review and lunch 11:00 –1:00
Planning context and lunch 11:30–1:00
ART PI Risks 1:00–2:00

Team breakouts 1:00–4:00

PI confidence vote 2:00–2:15

Draft plan review 4:00–5:00 Plan rework if necessary 2:15–???

Management review and Planning retrospective After

5:00–6:00
problem solving and moving forward commitment

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-48

Workbook 92 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Make planning adjustments

► Based on the previous day’s management

review and problem-solving meeting,
adjustments are discussed

► Possible changes:

– Business priorities
– Adjustment to Vision
– Changes to the scope
– Realignment of work and teams

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-49

Team breakout #2

Based on new knowledge and a good night’s

sleep, teams work to create their final plans.
Objectives for PI 1
► In the second team breakout, Business BV AV

Owners circulate and assign business value 1. Show routing calculations between the
five most frequent destinations
10
to PI Objectives from low (1) to high (10) 2. Navigate autonomously from distribution 8
center to the most frequent destination
7
► Teams finalize the PI plan 3. Parallel park for a delivery
4. Return to the distribution center 10
after delivery
► Teams also consolidate ART PI Risks, 5. Include traffic data in route planning 7
6. Recall a delivery that is already in 7
impediments, and dependencies progress

Uncommitted Objectives
► Uncommitted objectives provide the 7. Spike: Reduce GPS signal loss by 25%
2

capacity and guard band needed to 8. Demonstrate real-time rerouting to

avoid delays (e.g., accident, 5
increase the reliability of cadence- construction)

based delivery
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-50

Workbook 93 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Duration

Activity: Setting business value 7

min

The instructor will demonstrate assigning business

value for one team’s objectives. Objectives for PI 1 BV AV

► Step 1: Bring the Business Owners to one 1. Show routing calculations between the 5
10
most frequent destinations
team’s draft plans 2. Navigate autonomously from distribution 8
center to the most frequent destination
3. Parallel park for a delivery 7

► Step 2: The Business Owners will set value on 4. Return to the distribution center after
delivery
10

a scale of 1 – 10 for each identified objective 5. Include traffic data in route planning 7
6. Recall a delivery that is already in 7
progress
► Step 3: Observe the discussion that would take Uncommitted Objectives
place, illustrating the larger purposes and 7. Spike: Reduce GPS signal loss by 25%
2

8. Demonstrate real-time rerouting to

thought processes around assigning avoid delays (e.g., accident, 5
construction)
business value

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-51

Duration

Discussion: Facilitating team breakout #2 5

min

Scenario: During the second team breakout, the Business Owners come to
your team. The team has picked up several items meant to reduce technical
debt and build a testing automation infrastructure. As the Business Owners
are from the business side of the Enterprise, they rank all of these objectives
as four or lower. You can see that the team becomes upset.

► Step 1: As a class, discuss the following:

– What can the Scrum Master do?
– How can the Scrum Master help avoid this problem before it happens?

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-52

Workbook 94 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 ART planning board: Feature delivery, dependencies, and Milestones

Iteration 1.1 Iteration 1.2 Iteration 1.3 Iteration 1.4 Iteration 1.5 (IP) PI 2 >>>

Milestones and
Events

Unicorns

Lions
A Milestone or event is
occurring in Iteration 1.3
(e.g., release, trade show).
Bears

Eagles

Tigers This Feature cannot be

delivered until multiple
teams complete their
Antelopes
dependencies.

Bulls

UX Help
A Feature with no strings
means it does not have
Sys Arch Help
any dependencies.

ART Planning Board Legend:

Red strings (or lines for digital boards) are used
Significant Milestone or to connect a Feature or Milestone to one or more
Features Dependency Event dependencies. Sometimes a dependency has its
own dependency (see Lions in Iteration 1.2).
Blue Red or Pink Orange

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-53

3.4 Final plan review and PI Objectives

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 3-54

Workbook 95 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Final plan review

Teams and Business Owners peer-review all final plans.

Final plan review agenda

1. Changes to capacity and load

2. Final PI Objectives with business value

3. ART PI Risks and impediments

4. Q&A session
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-55

Building the final plan

► Final plans are reviewed by all teams

► Business Owners are asked whether

they accept the plan

► If so, the plan is accepted

► If not, the plan stays in place, and the

team continues planning after the review

Photo of final plan presentation. Photo courtesy of Discount

Tire Corporation.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-56

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 Addressing ART PI Risks

After all the plans have been presented, the

remaining ART PI Risks and impediments are
discussed and categorized.
R Resolved O Owned
ROAMing risks:
► Resolved - Addressed; no longer a concern
► Owned - Someone has taken responsibility A Accepted M Mitigated

► Accepted - Nothing more can be done, and if

the risk occurs, the release may
be compromised
► Mitigated – The team has a plan to adjust
as necessary
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-57

Duration

Activity: Manage ART PI risks 10

min

The instructor will demonstrate ROAMing one to two

risks for one team.
R Resolved O Owned
► Step 1: Pick one to two risk examples.

► Step 2: Read them in front of all teams

and stakeholders. A Accepted M Mitigated

► Step 3: Ask if anyone can own, help mitigate, or

resolve the risks. Otherwise, accept it as-is.

► Step 4: Put each risk into a corresponding

quadrant of the ROAM sheet for the ART.
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-58

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 Confidence vote: Team and ART

Once ART PI Risks have been addressed, a confidence vote is taken

by each team and the ART.

A commitment with two parts:

1. Teams agree to do everything in their power to meet the agreed-to objectives
2. In the event that objectives are not achievable, teams agree to escalate
immediately so that corrective action can be taken

No Little Good High Very high

confidence confidence confidence confidence confidence

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-59

Run a PI Planning Retrospective

The PI Planning event will evolve over time. Ending with a retrospective will help
continuously improve it.

The PI Planning
The Planning Meeting
The Planning Meeting
Retrospective
retrospective
retrospective
1.What went well
1.What went well
1.What
2.What went well
didn’t
2.What didn’t
2.What
3.What didn’t
we can do
3.What we can do
better next time do
3.What we can
better next time
better next time

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-60

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 RTE takeaway: integrated PI Objectives

ART PI Objectives are

the synthesis of each ART PI Objectives
team’s PI Objectives.
• Deliver basic search, sort, and
view of books in inventory
• Deliver basic shopping cart,
purchase, and shipping options
• Deliver investor demo at start
of Iteration 3

Team A BV Team B BV Team C BV Team D BV

One-click search 10 Purchase books 10 Allow users to 8 Provide book 10
for books by title, via various credit create comments detail to web users
author, genre card types on books they’ve
purchased
Support investor 9 Allow customers 8 Allow registered 8
demo by start of to choose their Support investor 9 users to manage
Iteration 3 optimal shipping demo by start of their profile
option Iteration 3
Drag & drop 9 Support investor 9
3 Support investor Implement type- 3 demo by start of
columns by attribute demo by start of ahead using index Iteration 3
Iteration 3 from search

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-61

Duration

Discussion: Simulation debriefing 10

min

► Step 1: Think about your

experience during the PI
Planning simulation.

► Step 2: Share the most

exciting moments and some
new insights. What have
you learned?

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-62

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 3.5 Facilitating PI Planning

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 3-63

Duration

Video: PI Planning with distributed teams 2

min

https://bit.ly/Video-PIDistributed

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-64

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 Distributed planning meetings: Distributed teams

► If members on the same team are distributed: Case Study

– Establish more planning overlap time for
intra-team collaboration

– Have more intra- and inter-team checkpoints

and synchronization

– Consider the non-ideal situation of concurrent planning

(someone may stay up all night!)

► If an ART has distributed whole teams:

– Team planning is easier; however, dependency management
with other component teams becomes more complex

– Have more inter-team checkpoints and synchronization https://bit.ly/Community-

InfogainCaseStudy
– Leverage a centralized ART Planning Board
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-65

Guidance for distributed planning meetings

May require more preparation and facilitation

► Have a dedicated facilitator and tech support person at each location

► Test audio, video, and presentation-sharing connectivity, and then test it again

► Have a common understanding of how plans will be shared (Video, Wiki, Email, PowerPoint, etc.)

► Establish team-based audio/video communication for breakout sessions

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-66

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 Respect for people and culture

► Have clear working agreements to be

respectful and compromise when it comes to
time zone differences

► Following the Lean principle to respect people

and cultures, avoid asking teams to stay up
all night

► Avoid asking teams to commit to their PI

Objectives in a sleep-deprived state

► Consider extending the PI Planning agenda to

accommodate multiple time zones.
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-67

Duration

Discussion: Facilitating PI Planning 5

min

► Step 1: With the class, discuss:

– What challenges do you see coming up during PI Planning?
– How can you, in the role of the Scrum Master, help solve
these challenges?

► Step 2: Share your ideas

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-68

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 The Scrum Master’s role in PI Planning

Best practices Common anti-patterns

Maintain the timebox Pressure is put on the team to overcommit
Make sure the team builds a plan they can Team under commits due to fear of failure
commit to
Overplanning ahead of time to make PI
Ensure that the team is honest in their
Planning more efficient
confidence vote
Facilitate coordination with other teams but The plan, rather than the alignment,
don’t do it for the team becomes the goal

Act as a request buffer for a team that has a

lot of dependencies

Manage the ART Planning Board

Facilitate the retrospective

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-69

Duration
Action Plan: Being a Scrum Master during 5
PI Planning event min

► Step 1: Locate the Scrum Master Action Plan section

in your workbooks

► Step 2: Reflect on your role as a Scrum Master during

PI Planning
– Think about a Feature for your team
– What approaches might you take to break the Feature
into Stories?
– What other steps will you take to prepare your team for
PI Planning?
– What tools or resources on the Class Page will help you
prepare for PI Planning?

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

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-70

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 Action Plan

Being a Scrum Master

during PI Planning event

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 Lesson review

In this lesson you:

► Participated in a simulated PI Planning event

► Created and reviewed simulated draft PI plans

► Reviewed the simulated final plans

► Committed to a set of PI Objectives

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-71

Articles used in this lesson

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

► “PI Planning”
https://www.scaledagileframework.com
/pi-planning/

► “PI Objectives”
https://www.scaledagileframework.com
/pi-objectives/

► “Feature”
https://www.scaledagileframework.com
/features-and-capabilities/

► “Story”
https://www.scaledagileframework.com
/story/

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-72

Workbook 105 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 is now a part of SAFe®

A modern way to conduct PI Planning

With piplanning.io, collaborating virtually feels like

being together in front of the same board. Empower
SM/TCs to lead remote PI Planning events that
ensure alignment and focus across all teams.

► RTE Cockpit streamlines PI Planning prep and

includes a strong team breakout experience

► Dependency Management visualizes your

requirements with easy-to-follow link options

► Capacity Allocation balances new Features

versus technical debt with one click

Try it today at scaledagile.com/piplanning

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-73

Continue your SAFe journey with the following resources:

Watch the two videos in this playlist to learn more Download the “SAFe PI Planning Toolkit” for
about the two different types of stories. resources to support preparation, coordination, and
https://bit.ly/Video-StoriesPlaylist communication to guide an ART through its PI
Planning event.
https://bit.ly/Community-ToolkitsandTemplates
Share the “SAFe ART Planning Board” Collaborate Share the “Team Boards” Collaborate template with
template with your ART to easily coordinate and your ART to help teams visualize their work and
execute a distributed or virtual PI Planning event. goals during PI Planning.
https://bit.ly/Template-ProgramBoard https://bit.ly/Template-TeamBoard

Use the “Writing SMART Objectives” guide to help Watch this three-minute video, Assigning Business
your team write strong PI objectives during Value during PI Planning, to learn how SAFe
PI Planning. prescribes the assigning of business value for easier
https://bit.ly/Community-SMARTObjectivesPDF decentralized decision-making.
https://bit.ly/Video-AssigningBVPIPlanning

©©Scaled
Scaled Agile.
Agile, Inc. 3-74

Workbook 106 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 References

Cohn, Mike. Agile Estimating and Planning. Pearson Education, Inc.: Upper Saddle River, 2006. 56-59.

Jeffries, Ron. “Essential XP: Card, Conversation, Confirmation.” Ron Jeffries. August 30, 2001.
https://ronjeffries.com/xprog/articles/expcardconversationconfirmation.

Wake, Bill. “INVEST in Good Stories, and SMART Tasks.” XP123. August 17, 2003.
https://xp123.com/articles/invest-in-good-stories-and-smart-tasks.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 3-75

Workbook 107 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Lesson notes
Enter your notes below. If using a digital workbook, save your PDF often so you don’t lose
any of your notes.

Workbook 108 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Lesson 4
Facilitating Iteration
Execution
SAFe® Course - Attending this course gives learners
access to the SAFe® Scrum Master exam and related
preparation materials.

© Scaled Agile. Inc.

Lesson Topics
4.1 Plan the Iteration

4.2 Track the Iteration progress

4.3 Refine the backlog

4.4 Facilitate the

Iteration Review

4.5 Facilitate relentless

improvement

4.6 Support DevOps and

Release on Demand

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2

Workbook 109 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Learning objectives

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

► Plan the Iteration

► Facilitate a Team Sync

► Track the Iteration progress

► Discuss backlog refinement

► Facilitate the Iteration Review

► Explain the CALMR approach for DevOps and Release on Demand

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-3

4.1 Plan the Iteration

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

Workbook 110 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Duration
Video: How to run an effective Iteration 5
Planning meeting min

https://bit.ly/Video-IterationPlanning

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-5

Iteration Planning flow

Iteration Planning Agenda

Iteration Planning
1. Establish capacity • Timebox: Four
hours or less
2. Story analysis and estimation
• This event is by
3.Tasking Stories (optional) and for the team

4. Develop Iteration Goals • SMEs may attend

as required
5.Commit to the Iteration Goals

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-6

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 Establishing capacity

► Team applies capacity allocation to the Team Backlog

► Team quantifies capacity to perform work in the upcoming Iteration

► Each team member determines their availability, acknowledging

time off and other potential duties

► In collaboration with the teams, the PO selects the highest priority

backlog items for each ‘slice’ of the capacity allocation to
implement in an Iteration

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-7

Capacity allocation for a healthy balance

► By defining capacity allocation, the PO doesn’t need to prioritize unlike things

against each other
► Once the capacity allocation is set, the PO and team can prioritize like things
against each other
Capacity Allocation
Capacity allocation
Next PI
• Helps alleviate velocity
degradation due to
technical debt
User stories
Refactors+ • Keeps existing Customers
Maintenance happy with bug fixes
and enhancements

Team
• Can change at Iteration or
Backlog PI boundaries

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-8

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 Story analysis and estimating

► The Product Owner presents Stories in

order of priority

► Each Story
– Is discussed and analyzed by the team
– Has its acceptance criteria defined and refined
– Is estimated
► The process continues until the estimation
of the Stories has reached the capacity of
the team
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-9

Tasking Stories

Many teams break their Stories into tasks and forecast them in hours
to better understand their capacity and capabilities.

Team members discuss:

► Who would be the best person to accomplish it?

► Approximately how long would it take?

► What dependencies might it have with other Stories?

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-10

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 Iteration Goals

Iteration Goals provide clarity, commitment, and management information. They

serve three purposes.

Align team members Iteration Goals example

to a common purpose 1. Finalize and push
last name search and
first name morphology
Align teams to common PI 2. Index 80% of remaining data
Objectives and manage
3. Other Stories:
dependencies
• Establish search replication
validation protocol
• Refactor artifact
Provide transparency and dictionary schema
management information

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-11

Commit to the Iteration goals

Team commitments are not just to the work. Teams are committed to
other teams, the ART, and the stakeholders.

A team meets its commitment:

By doing everything they said they would do,
- or -
By immediately raising the concern if it isn’t feasible to do so.

Commitment Adaptability
Too rigid of a Too little commitment
commitment can lead to can lead to
burnout, inflexibility, and unpredictability and lack
quality problems. of focus on results.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-12

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 Duration

Activity: Iteration Planning 10

min

► Step 1: Select one group member to play the Scrum Master role.

► Step 2: Review the Team Backlog in your workbook.

► Step 3: As a team, plan how you will execute an Iteration.

► Step 4: Working as an Agile Team, plan how you will execute

your Iteration. The Scrum Master should facilitate the meeting.

► Step 5: Outline your Iteration Goals.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-13

The Scrum Master’s role in Iteration Planning

Best practices Common anti-patterns

Maintain the timebox Delve too deeply into technical discussions

Ensure that the team commits to the Iteration Goals Create an unrealistic commitment

Verify that the PO or other stakeholders don’t

Have the exact same capacity and load
influence the team to overcommit

Challenge the team to exceed their Focus from the Scrum Master on the technical role
previous accomplishments rather than the facilitator’s role

Ensure that the improvement items from the

Under-commit due to fear of failure
retrospective are put into action

Ensure time is allocated for technical debt activities Reserve no time for support activities

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-14

Workbook 115 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Iteration Planning

Team Backlog

No. Size Req. Backlog Item

1 X Estimate the number of slides in this course.

2 Calculate the square root of 54,289 without a computer or calculator.

Add the following numbers with a calculator and be sure the answer is correct:
3
1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20, 40, 100.

4 Accurately count the number of slides in the course.

Introduce yourself to every person on your Scrum team and write down their
5
children’s names.
Add the following numbers without a calculator and be certain the answer is
6
correct: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 40, 100.

7 X Calculate how tall your Scrum Team is when each member is stacked vertically.

Write a program, without Excel, that accepts 10 numbers from a user and
8
displays the total as each number is entered.
Calculate the distance between the two members of the team who live
9
furthest apart.

10 Calculate the total number of letters in everyone’s name on the team.

11 Estimate the snowfall in Oulu, Finland this winter in centimeters.

Estimate the number of words in the workbook without using an

12
automated word count.

13 Estimate the cubic meters of snowfall in Oulu, Finland this winter.

Obtain an accurate count of the number of words in the course workbook

14
without using an automated word count.
Create a list of all the team members’ names, and their children’s names, in
15 X
reverse alphabetical order.

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 4.2 Track the Iteration progress

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 4-15

Duration

Video: How to run an effective Team Sync 5

min

https://bit.ly/Video-DailyStandUp

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-16

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 Communication and synchronization with the Team Sync

Basic Team Sync agenda The meet-after agenda

Each person answers:

1. Review topics captured on the
1. What did I do yesterday to
meet-after board
advance the Iteration Goals?
2. Involved parties discuss,
2. What will I do today to advance
and uninvolved people may
the Iteration Goals?
leave
3. Are there any impediments that
will prevent the team from
meeting the Iteration Goals?

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-17

Team Sync anti-patterns

Poor Team Syncs may be a symptom of a deeper problem that requires

a more systematic approach. Potential root causes:
► Poor collaboration of the team members during the Iteration (for
example, Vijay does not know and doesn’t care about what Ken is
working on and vice versa)
► Lack of collective ownership
► Infrequent verification and integration during the Iteration (for example,
we are working on something, and we think it’s good, but we don't
know because we haven’t tested it)
► Perpetual, unresolved conflict within the team

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-18

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 Prepare Share

Activity: Facilitating the Team Sync 5

min
2
min

► Step 1: Choose a Scrum Master and have them read your

team project.
Secret Identity Card
► Step 2: Pick up a secret identity card. Don’t show it to others. Secret Identity: Grumpy Product Owner

You’re theSecret
grumpyIdentity
ProductCard
Owner. You’re
► Step 3: Run a Team Sync, playing your role as assigned by constantly disappointed with the team's
progress and take the opportunity to mention
the card. that you think they can and should do more.

Secret Identity Card

– If the Scrum Master calls you on your specific behavior, you can stop.
Secret Identity:
Secret Domineering
Identity Card Guest

► Step 4: Share your experience with the class: You’re the over domineering guest. You have
no direct role on the team. You should tell the
team that you’re a guest. Try to ask a lot of

– Scrum Master, how was it for you? questions and generally hog the attention.

– Team members, what insights do you have for the Scrum Master?
– How can we deal with these behaviors when they come up in
Team Sync?

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-19

An example from the field

How is this team doing? How do you know that?

Not Started Development Test Accepted

Story Story
Story
10 9
Story 3
8
Story
Story 1
Story
Story 2
7 Story
11 6

Story
Story 4
5

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-20

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 Facilitating the Team Sync

Instructions: Use the space withing each secret identify card on this page to guess who is
playing which identify during the mock Team Sync.

Secret Identity Card Secret Identity Card

Secret Identity: Curious Developer Secret Identity: Shy Team Member

You’re an overly curious developer, and you You’re the shy person on the team, you only
have a follow up question to every statement say the minimum necessary. Try using one
of every team member. word sentences and short words. Only talk
when directly asked.

Who am I? Who am I?

Secret Identity Card Secret Identity Card

Secret Identity: Grumpy Product Owner Secret Identity: Busy Team Member

You’re the grumpy Product Owner. You’re too busy to be in the daily meeting.
You’re constantly disappointed with the team's Constantly engaged with your mobile device
progress and take the opportunity to mention and barely paying attention to what others
that you think they can and should do more. are saying.

Who am I? Who am I?

Secret Identity Card Secret Identity Card

Secret Identity: Domineering Guest Secret Identity: Team Member in a Hurry

You’re the over domineering guest. You have no You have to leave early. Excuse yourself
direct role on the team. You should tell the team midway through the meeting and leave.
that you’re a guest. Try to ask a lot of questions You may stay nearby to listen, but may
and generally hog the attention. not participate.

Who am I? Who am I?

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 Visualize to increase understanding

Now how do you think they are doing? Today

Wednesday Thursday Friday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Monday Tuesday

Not Started Development Test Accepted

Story Story
Story Story 3 Story
10
9 8 1
Story Story
11 Story 2
Story
7 6
Story
4
Story
5

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-21

Duration

Activity: WIP improvement opportunities 8

min

► Step 1: Referring to the example in the

previous slides, discuss the effect of a
three-story WIP constraint on the
‘development’ and ‘test’ categories. Today

Wednesday Thursday Friday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Monday Tuesday

► Step 2: Consider this scenario: You’re Not Started Development Test Accepted

a developer. You just finished Story 6. Story Story Story

Story
3 Story
What would you do if:
10 9 8
1

Story
11 Story Story
Story
2

– There is no WIP constraint?

7 6

Story
Story 4

– A three-Story WIP constraint is in place?

5

► Step 3: Which scenario has the

highest throughput?

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-22

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 Iteration burn-down

► Many Scrum teams use Iteration

burn-down charts Iteration burn-down

► Burn-downs count the remaining effort

(Stories, tasks, etc.) 300

Hours Remaining
► Burn-down charts provide several other 250

challenges:
200

– Focus on tasks completed versus

Stories completed 150

– Hard to distinguish between work added 100

and work not done

50

► SAFe recommends using burn-up

charts and cumulative flow diagrams 12/8
12/9
12/12
12/13
12/14
12/15
12/16
12/19
12/20
12/21

(CFD) over burn-down charts © Scaled Agile, Inc.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-23

Example burn-up charts

50 50
45 45
40 40
35 35
30 30
25 25
20 20
15 15
10 10
5 5
0 0

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10

50 50
45 45
40 40
35 35
30 30
25 25
20 20
15 15
10 10
5 5
0 0
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-24

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 Prepare Share

Activity: Iteration Execution 10

min
2
min

► Step 1: Working in your groups, select team members to play the

role of the Scrum Master and a Product Owner. The rest of the team
will be developers.
– Important: As a Scrum Master, ensure you are available to the team. As a
PO, refer to the “Acceptance Criteria for POs Only” handout from
the instructor.

► Step 2: Execute the Iteration you planned earlier by completing as

many backlog items as possible.

► Step 3: Share your experience with the class.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-25

The Scrum Master’s role in tracking Iteration progress

Best practices Common anti-patterns

Facilitate mid-Pl re-planning Team gets no input from Coach Sync

Encourage the team to point out as early as possible

if they think they will miss Iteration Goals or Pl Teams are unwilling to change or add objectives
Objectives. Communicate to and from the mid-PI
Coach Sync
Scrum Master does all the synchronization, so the
Encourage the use of engineering practices
team is incapable of doing it themselves

Make sure defects are not pushed to the IP Iteration

Facilitate preparation for the next PI

Support release activities

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-26

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 4.3 Refine the backlog

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 4-27

Duration
Video: How to run an effective Backlog 5
Refinement min

https://bit.ly/Video-RunningBacklogRefinement

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-28

Workbook 124 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Prepare Share

Discussion: Backlog refinement 3

min
3
min

► Step 1: As a group, discuss the split in responsibility for backlog refinement

between the Product Owner and the Scrum Master:
– How can you, as the Scrum Master, help facilitate this process?
– A common problem is that the Agile Teams spend too much time refining Stories. How
would you facilitate finding a solution to this problem?

– What should the Scrum Master do if a Story does not have acceptance criteria?

► Step 2: Share with the class

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-29

The Backlog Refinement Event

► Timebox: 1 – 2 hours per Iteration.

► Purpose: Provides time to identify dependencies and issues that could impact
the next Iteration. Ensures that there is a ready backlog for Iteration Planning.
► Attendees:
- Agile Team members are in attendance and actively engaged; subject
matter experts (SMEs) and other teams’ members are invited as needed.
- Scrum Master or Product Owner facilitates.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-30

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 Sample Backlog refinement agenda

Sample Backlog Refinement Workshop Agenda

1. The PO presents the set of candidate Stories for the next Iteration
2. The team discusses whether the set of candidate Stories should be
reduced or increased; Stories are added or removed
3. The PO guides the team through the candidate Stories one by one:
a) The team discusses each Story, estimates it, and splits it
if necessary
b) The PO clarifies or supplements the acceptance criteria
c) The team identifies dependencies on other teams
4. Action items are summarized for all Stories that still require external
input or action

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-31

The Scrum Master’s role in backlog refinement

Best practices Common anti-patterns

Maintain the timebox Arriving to the Iteration with non-ready Stories

Maintain the right level of a deep backlog vs a full set

Not doing the backlog refinement consistently
of specified Stories for two Iterations
Team sees Stories for the first time during Iteration
Make sure all the team members participate
or PI Planning

Invite the right subject matter experts Feature estimations impact Story estimation

Hold the event at regular intervals

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-32

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 4.4 Facilitate the Iteration Review

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 4-33

The Iteration Review

► Provides the true measure of

Demonstrating a working,
progress by showing working tested team increment
software functionality,
hardware components, etc.
► Teams demonstrate every
Story, spike, refactor,
and NFR Working software,
other components

► Attended by the Team and

its stakeholders

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-34

Workbook 127 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Duration
Video: How to run an effective Iteration 5
Review min

https://bit.ly/Video-IterationReview

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-35

Iteration Review Guidelines

► Timebox: 1–2 hours. More frequent Story reviews can take place during
the Iteration.
► Preparation: Review preparation should be limited to 1–2 hours. Minimize
presentation. Work from the repository of Stories.
► Attendees:
- Agile Team members are in attendance and actively engaged; SMEs and
other teams’ members are invited as needed.
- The Product Owner invites key stakeholders. If a major stakeholder
cannot attend, the PO should follow up individually.
- Facilitated by the Scrum Master.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-36

Workbook 128 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Sample Iteration Review agenda

1. Review business context and Iteration Goals

2. Demo and solicit feedback on each Story, spike, refactor, and non-functional
requirement (NFR)
3. Discuss Stories not completed and why
4. Identify risks, impediments
5. Revise Team Backlog and Team PI Objectives as needed

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-37

Two views from the Iteration Review

The Iteration Review provides the team and other stakeholders two
views into the ART and Solution, based on a working system:

How we did in the Iteration: How we’re doing in the PI:

► Did we meet the goal? ► Review of PI Objectives
► Story-by-Story review ► Review of remaining PI scope;
reprioritizing if needed

Pro Tip: You don't have to wait for the Iteration Review to
demo completed work. Demo things as they're finished so the
team can get feedback and adjust as needed.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-38

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 The Scrum Master’s role in the Iteration Review and System Demo

Best practices Common anti-patterns

Consider how and what to demo in Iteration Planning A lot of time is spent preparing for the demo

Demo is mainly talk/slides as opposed to working

Make sure the right participants are present
software and/or hardware
Ensure that the team celebrates its accomplishments
PO sees things for the first time in the System Demo
and that stakeholders acknowledge them

Make sure different team members have the System Demo is not done because 'the Iteration
opportunity to demo Review is enough'

Ensure that the team is ready for the System Demo Team members are not invited to the System Demo
and coordinates with the System Team to save time
Demos that are not interesting or relevant to
ART stakeholders

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-39

4.5 Facilitate relentless improvement

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 4-40

Workbook 130 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Relentless improvement

Agile Teams continuously adapt to new

circumstances and improve value delivery
methods.
► Understand where you are
► Foster the culture of improving everywhere
► Use retrospectives as summary points, not
as limitations
► Support continuous learning
► Actively engage with other Scrum Masters
to drive improvement on the ART
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-41

Duration
Video: How to run an effective Iteration 4
Retrospective min

https://bit.ly/Video-IterationRetro

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-42

Workbook 131 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Improving everywhere

Ask questions to reflect and Example

address every area that Move from manual to automated testing
surfaces as a constraint to
Communication with remote teams,
the team’s performance. subject matter experts, etcetera

The team’s skill set

Preparing and running the demo

Nonfunctional requirements (NFR) testing

More efficient and disciplined

design sessions

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-43

Measuring progress

► Teams decide which Metrics are relevant to them and use the
current values and trends as input to their retrospectives.
► Teams might include additional Flow Metrics such as flow velocity,
flow load, or flow distribution.
► Each Agile Team gathers the Iteration Metrics they’ve agreed to
collect. This occurs in the quantitative part of the team
retrospective.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-44

Workbook 132 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Flow velocity

Flow velocity measures the number of backlog items completed in a

given timeframe
Velocity Chart
40
38
35
Average Velocity: 31 pts
33
29 29 31 30
30
27
25
Story Points

20

10

0
Iteration Iteration Iteration Iteration Iteration Iteration Iteration Iteration Iteration
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

An example of an Agile Team’s flow velocity in Story points per Iteration

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-45

Flow load

Flow load indicates how many items are currently in the system

40

30
Stories

Flow Load
20
(WIP)

10

0
Iteration Iteration Iteration Iteration Iteration Iteration Iteration Iteration Iteration Iteration Iteration Iteration Iteration Iteration Iteration
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Done Releasing Deploying to Production Validating on Staging Implementing Backlog Analyzing Funnel

Visualizing flow load with a cumulative flow diagram

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-46

Workbook 133 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Flow distribution

Measures the amount of each type of work in the system over time

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%
20.1.1 20.1.2 20.1.3 20.1.4 20.1.5 20.2.1 20.2.2 20.2.3 20.2.4 20.2.5 20.3.1 20.3.2
Stories Enablers Maintenance

Flow distribution over time

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-47

Sample Iteration Metrics

Functionality Iteration 1 Iteration 2 Quality

Velocity planned Unit test coverage %

# Defects
Flow velocity
# New test cases
# Stories planned
# New test cases automated
# Stories accepted
Total tests
% Stories accepted Total % tests automated
# Refactors
Flow distribution – Enablers %

Flow distribution – Stories %

Flow distribution – Maintenance %

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-48

Workbook 134 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Iteration Retrospective

► Timebox: An hour or less.

► Preparation: Pick 1–2 things that can be done better or preserved
and target these for the next Iteration. Enter improvement items into
the Team Backlog.

► Attendees:

- Agile Team members are in attendance and actively engaged; no

other stakeholders should be invited.
- Facilitated by the Scrum Master.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-49

Sample Iteration Retrospective agenda

Part 1: Quantitative
1. Review the improvement backlog items targeted for this Iteration. Were they
all accomplished?
2. Did the team meet the goals (yes/no)?
3. Collect and review the agreed-upon Iteration Metrics.
Part 2: Qualitative
1. What went well?
2. What didn’t?
3. What can we do better next time?
4. What can we preserve?

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-50

Workbook 135 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Creative Iteration Retrospectives

Create three Has someone

Write one
columns helped you
word
and have or helped the
to describe
an open team? Show
the Iteration
discussion appreciation

Rate the Iteration

Individually write on a scale of
sticky notes and 1 – 5 and then
then find patterns brainstorm how
as a group to make the next
Iteration a 5

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-51

Prepare Share

Activity: Tune and adjust 10

min
5
min

► Step 1: Working in your groups, run the Boat retrospective to

assess this course so far. Select one team member to play the
role of the Scrum Master.
► Step 2: Draw a speedboat with an anchor on your retro board.
By the anchor, draw the things that slow the class
down (impediments).
► Step 3: Around the propellers, draw things that propel the
class forward.
► Step 4: Present your board to the class and discuss how your
class can tune and adjust:
– What’s working well (what are the propelling forces)?
– What isn’t working (what are the anchors)?
– What can we do better next time (how can we tune and adjust)?

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-52

Workbook 136 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 The Scrum Master’s role in the improvement

Best practices Common anti-patterns

The only focus is on what to improve and not what
Encourage improvement between retrospectives
to preserve

Focus on problems that are outside of the

Coach the team on problem-solving techniques
team’s control

Make sure the entire team has a voice in the

Failure to achieve results
retrospective

Ensure that the team agrees on actionable Inviting people outside the team (especially
improvement items management) to the retrospective

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-53

4.6 Support DevOps and Release on Demand

©©
Scaled Agile.
Scaled Inc. Inc.
Agile, 4-54

Workbook 137 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Duration

Video: What is DevOps? 2

min

https://bit.ly/Video-WhatisDevOps

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-55

Maximize speed and stability

Operations

Compliance Development

Dev Ops

Architecture Security

Business
Optimized for Optimized for Working together for
development speed stability speed and stability

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-56

Workbook 138 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 A CALMR approach to DevOps

Establish a culture of shared

C Culture responsibility for development, Culture
deployment, and operations. of shared
responsibility
Automate the Continuous
A Automation
Delivery Pipeline (CDP).
Recovery Automation
reduces risk & of continuous
Keep batch sizes small, limit preserves value delivery pipeline
L Lean flow WIP, and provide
extreme visibility.

Measure the flow through the

M Measurement pipeline. Implement full-
stack telemetry.
Measurement Lean Flow
Architect and enable low-risk of flow, quality
accelerates
releases. Establish fast delivery
& value
R Recovery
recovery, fast reversion, and
fast fix-forward.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-57

Prepare Share
Activity: Supporting DevOps and Release 10 5
on Demand min min

► Step 1: Consider the five elements necessary for DevOps: culture,

automation, Lean flow, measurement, and recovery. What might be
some challenges associated with them?

► Step 2: Draw the CALMR approach, and for three to five of the
elements, write:
– As a Scrum Master, how would you support each element?
– What tools and techniques can you use to support the team in applying
those elements?

► Step 3: Share with the class.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-58

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 Duration

Action Plan: Facilitating Iteration Execution 5

min

► Step 1: Locate the Scrum Master Action Plan section

in your workbook
► Step 2: Add some techniques for planning and
reviewing the Iteration by reflecting on the following:
– How will you measure and track Iteration progress?
– What techniques will you use for facilitating the events during
the Iteration?
– What tools and resources on the Class Page will help you
facilitate the Iteration?
– What practices will you use to avoid anti-patterns?
► Step 3: Share one of your insights with the class

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-59

Lesson review

In this lesson you:

► Planned the Iteration

► Facilitated a Team Sync

► Tracked the Iteration progress

► Discussed backlog refinement

► Facilitated the Iteration Review

► Explained the CALMR approach for Dev Ops and Release on Demand

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-60

Workbook 140 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Action Plan

Facilitating Iteration
Execution

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 Articles used in this lesson

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

► “Iteration Planning”
https://www.scaledagileframework.com
/iteration-planning/
► “Iteration Execution”
https://www.scaledagileframework.com
/iteration-execution/
► “Iteration Review”
https://www.scaledagileframework.com
/iteration-review/
► “Iteration Retrospective”
https://www.scaledagileframework.com
/iteration-retrospective/

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-61

Articles used in this lesson

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

► “DevOps”
https://www.scaledagileframework.com
/devops/
► “CALMR”
https://www.scaledagileframework.com
/calmr/

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 4-62

Workbook 142 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Continue your SAFe journey with the following resources:

Watch this one-minute video, Quick Tips: Make Team Use the “Start, Stop, Continue, I Wish” Collaborate
Sync Fun! for helpful thoughts on bringing fun into template to run a team retro that combines two retro
your team events. techniques – ‘Start, Stop, Continue’ and ‘I Wish.’
https://bit.ly/Video-MakeDSUFun https://bit.ly/Template-StartStopContinueIWish

Use the “Retrospective Voyage” Collaborate template Use the “Plus Minus Delta” Collaborate template to
with your team to run an engaging retro to identify run a fast and simple retrospective with your team.
the best and worst moments of the Iteration. https://bit.ly/Template-PlusMinusDelta
https://bit.ly/Template-RetrospectiveVoyage

Download the “SAFe Remote ART Toolkit” for Download the “SAFe Iteration Execution Toolkit” for a
additional tools and guides for releasing value with set of tools and guides for facilitating significant
distributed or remote teams. Iteration events.
https://bit.ly/Community-ToolkitsandTemplates https://bit.ly/Community-ToolkitsandTemplates

©©Scaled
Scaled Agile.
Agile, Inc. 4-63

Continue your SAFe journey with the following resources:

Download the “Complete Guide to Team Syncs for Download the “Complete Guide to Backlog
Facilitators” for a guide to planning, running, and Refinement for Facilitators” for guidance on how to
getting creative with your Team Syncs. plan and execute the backlog refinement event for
https://bit.ly/Community-FGDailyStand-Up your team.
https://bit.ly/Community-FGBacklogRefinement
Use the “Complete Guide to Iteration Planning for Use the “Complete Guide to Iteration Retrospective
Facilitators” to prepare for, conduct, and introduce for Facilitators” for guidance on planning, running,
creativity to your next Iteration Planning event. and improving upon retrospectives with your team.
https://bit.ly/Community-FGIterationPlanning https://bit.ly/Community-FGRetrospective

Download the “Complete Guide to Iteration Review

for Facilitators” to help prepare for and execute your
Iteration Review events.
https://bit.ly/Community-FGIterationReview

©©Scaled
Scaled Agile.
Agile, Inc. 4-64

Workbook 143 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Lesson notes
Enter your notes below. If using a digital workbook, save your PDF often so you don’t lose
any of your notes.

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 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

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 2

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 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 146 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 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 PI planning
Continuing time for
Train Pre-PI Optional time
distributed
education
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
practices and lunch distributed
Solution
continues & Adapt
Inspect and
Innovation planning
Train
adapt Planning
continues 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
Planning
PI planning Draft plan review
readiness
readiness Management
review and
Planning
retrospective and
problem-solving moving forward

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 5-6

Workbook 147 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 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

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

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 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

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 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 Actual

Review and rate your PI achievements:

Plan

►
Structured locations and
validation of locations

Build and demonstrate a proof

of concept for context images

– Consider how well you did against your stated

Implement negative triangulation
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

© Scaled Agile, 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

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 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: Problem-solving 9
workshop and root cause analysis min

https://bit.ly/Video-ProblemSolvingWorkshop

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 5-14

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 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

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 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

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 Action Plan

Finishing the PI

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 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. 5-20

Workbook 155 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 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. 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

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 Lesson notes
Enter your notes below. If using a digital workbook, save your PDF often so you don’t lose
any of your notes.

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 Lesson 6
Practicing SAFe

SAFe® Course - Attending this course gives learners access to

the SAFe Release Train Engineer exam and related
preparation materials.

© Scaled Agile. Inc.

Duration

Video: SAFe Certification Benefits 3

min

https://bit.ly/Video-SAFeCertificationBenefits
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 8-2

Workbook 158 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 The Learning Plan is YOUR path to certification
Next Steps:

Download the workbook and access the

exam study guide and practice test

Take the Certification Exam and showcase your

Digital Badge to get recognized as a Certified
SAFe Professional

©©Scaled
ScaledAgile.
Agile, Inc.
Inc. 8-3

Feedback is a gift
Help us improve by
completing the Course
Feedback Survey

© Scaled Agile. Inc.

Workbook 159 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Duration

Activity: My Learning Plan 7

min

► Step 1: Individually, navigate to your learning plan via:

- https://safe.scaledagile.com/
► Step 2: In your Learning Plan, navigate to and complete the course feedback
survey. The survey results will remain anonymous to the instructor.

► Step 3: After completing the survey, review the rest of the certification prep
materials. Take special note of your exam deadline and plan your timeline to
prepare for and complete the exam!

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 8-5

Duration

Video: Welcome to SAFe Studio 3

min

https://bit.ly/Video-WelcomeSAFeStudio
© Scaled Agile. Inc. 6

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 SAFe Studio Resources

Online Learning Videos

Toolkits My SAFe Events

SAFe FAQs SAFe Assessments

SAFe Forums

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 8-7

Duration

Activity: SAFe Studio Exploration 7

min

► Step 1: Using the sidebar navigation, explore each area of SAFe Studio to
locate the following:

- Identify a video about a SAFe event you’re curious to learn more about
- Select an online learning of interest
► Step 2: Navigate to the SAFe Forum and make a post. You could introduce
yourself, ask a question from the class parking lot, or respond to a post from
another SAFe Studio user.

© Scaled Agile. Inc. 8-8

Workbook 161 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Good luck on your
SAFe Practice
with SAFe Studio
https://safe.scaledagile.com/
© Scaled Agile. Inc.

Workbook 162 © Scaled Agile, Inc.

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 Lesson notes
Enter your notes below. If using a digital workbook, save your PDF often so you don’t lose
any of your notes.

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 SAFe Glossary
📖 SAFe Glossary:
Visit the Scaled Agile Framework site (www.scaledagileframework.com/glossary/)
to download glossaries translated into other languages.

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