How SAFe’s PI Planning Solves the Chaos of Multiple Scrum Teams

When working with a single Scrum team, things are relatively straightforward. The team holds its backlog refinement, sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives, moving iteratively toward delivering value. But what happens when you scale this up to 10, 20, or even 50 teams working together on the same product?

Without structured alignment, chaos is inevitable. Teams might have conflicting priorities, dependencies go unnoticed until it’s too late, and miscommunication leads to wasted efforts. This is where SAFe’s PI Planning comes in—a structured, cadence-based approach to synchronizing multiple teams within a large-scale Agile framework.

If you’ve ever struggled with aligning multiple teams, keeping stakeholders engaged, or managing inter-team dependencies, then PI Planning is your solution. Let me explain why.

What is SAFe’s PI Planning?

In SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework), we work in Agile Release Trains (ARTs)—groups of teams working together towards a shared vision. Unlike traditional Scrum, which focuses on a single team’s sprint planning, SAFe introduces Program Increment (PI) Planning, a face-to-face (or virtual) event held every 8-12 weeks, bringing all teams together to align their objectives.

Think of it as a grand strategy session where teams not only plan their work but also align with the business vision, resolve dependencies, and mitigate risks upfront. By the end of the event, every team walks away with a clear plan for the next Program Increment, reducing uncertainty and enhancing predictability.

Why is PI Planning Essential?

1. Aligning Multiple Scrum Teams

In large enterprises, it’s common for teams to work in silos. One team might focus on backend APIs, another on the UI, and yet another on security. If these teams don’t align on priorities and dependencies, their work can conflict, leading to delays.

SAFe’s PI Planning ensures that everyone in the Agile Release Train is aligned toward the same goal. We start with a shared business context—why we’re doing what we’re doing—so that each team’s work contributes to a cohesive product rather than isolated features.

2. Setting Clear Program Objectives

One major pain point in multi-team environments is unclear priorities. What should teams focus on first? Which features hold the highest business value?

PI Planning solves this by setting crystal-clear objectives at two levels:
✅ Team Objectives: Each team defines its goals for the upcoming PI.
✅ Program Objectives: The ART as a whole aligns on what needs to be achieved in the next few iterations.

By the end of PI Planning, everyone—from developers to executives—knows exactly what to expect from the next 8-12 weeks.

3. Managing Dependencies Before They Become Bottlenecks

Here’s a common scenario: Team A is waiting on Team B’s API, but Team B didn’t realize this dependency until halfway through the sprint. Now, everything is delayed. Sound familiar?

With PI Planning, teams don’t just plan their own work—they map out dependencies across all teams before execution begins. This is visualized on a Program Board, which becomes the blueprint for coordination.

🔹 Example: If the UI team needs backend services by Iteration 3, they align with the backend team during PI Planning, ensuring delivery timelines match. This eliminates last-minute surprises.

4. Proactively Identifying and Resolving Risks

In Agile, we embrace uncertainty, but that doesn’t mean we ignore risks. During PI Planning, we use a structured approach called ROAM to classify risks:

Resolved – We found a solution!
Owned – Someone is accountable for handling it.
Accepted – We acknowledge it but can’t change it.
Mitigated – We have a strategy to reduce its impact.

This structured risk management process allows us to address potential roadblocks upfront, rather than firefighting mid-way through the PI.

5. Business and Technical Alignment

One major issue in large enterprises is the gap between business and development teams. Business leaders talk in terms of revenue, market share, and customer satisfaction, while engineers talk in user stories, APIs, and architecture.

PI Planning bridges this gap.

Business Owners share the vision, objectives, and market strategy.
System Architects provide technical direction.
Product Managers prioritize features based on business needs.

This ensures that technical teams are not just coding—they are solving real business problems.

6. Driving Commitment, Collaboration, and Transparency

In SAFe, we don’t just build for teams; we build with them. That’s why teams create their own plans during PI Planning, rather than having work dictated from the top.

At the end of PI Planning, all teams conduct a Confidence Vote on their final plan. This allows teams to express their confidence in delivering what they committed to. If confidence is low, teams adjust their plans before execution begins.

This transparent, collaborative approach results in realistic planning, reducing the likelihood of missed commitments.

How PI Planning Works: The Agenda

PI Planning is a two-day event with a structured agenda:

📅 Day 1: Planning and Dependency Mapping

1️⃣ Business Context: Senior leaders present the company vision and strategic direction.
2️⃣ Product Vision: Product Managers share the roadmap and upcoming features.
3️⃣ Team Breakouts: Each team plans their backlog for the next 5 iterations.
4️⃣ Dependency Identification: Teams identify cross-team dependencies and map them on the Program Board.

📅 Day 2: Review, Adjust, and Commit

5️⃣ Plan Review: Teams present their draft plans for feedback.
6️⃣ Risk ROAMing: Teams discuss risks and mitigate them.
7️⃣ Confidence Vote: Teams vote on how achievable the plan is.
8️⃣ Final Adjustments: If necessary, teams adjust their plans.
9️⃣ Commitment: Teams commit to their PI Objectives, ensuring alignment across the ART.

By the end of Day 2, all teams are synchronized, and the entire ART is moving in the same direction.

Why PI Planning is a Game-Changer

Unlike traditional Scrum, which works well for small teams but struggles at scale, SAFe provides a structured way to align multiple teams.

With PI Planning, organizations move from chaotic, last-minute firefighting to structured, strategic execution.

✅ Teams are aligned on a shared vision.
✅ Dependencies are proactively managed.
✅ Risks are identified and mitigated early.
✅ Technical and business teams work in sync.
✅ Predictability and delivery confidence increase.

So, if your organization is struggling with scaling Agile, consider implementing SAFe’s PI Planning. It’s not just about planning—it’s about bringing teams together, creating alignment, and ensuring sustainable, high-quality delivery at scale. 🚀

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