Why PI Objectives?

Editor’s Note: Original blog published on: Oct 12, 2016

I am often asked why PI Objectives needed when the features have already been determined and handed over to the teams are? Why repeat the process in re-defining something that is previously known?

The product management team builds features with possible inputs from the development as well as business owners. Still, the development teams may not have complete visibility across features until the PI planning. Often a feature may be too big for a single team to handle and may be split between one or more teams.

The idea of PI objectives is to get revalidation of not just the features assigned but also the teams understanding of the same. Agile is not about merely assigning the task to teams but for there to be a collaborative scope of work is derived from self-configuring teams.

The result might look like simplified summaries of the feature, achieving SMART PI objectives require the teams to have an in-depth knowledge of team velocity, competencies, milestones, any major refactoring and any dependencies that might be known or emerge during the team breakouts.

Once the technical teams synthesize the PI objectives, it is essential for them to understand the business value of the intended work, which is where the business owners value assignment plays a role. Now the teams can get a better business understanding and a sense of priority of their inputs for the PI.


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