As an Agile or Scaled Agile practitioner, you are probably familiar with the concept of the Program Increment (PI). If you are not, then know that implementing SAFe requires organizing work into Program Increments (PIs).
In this article, we’ll explore in-depth the concept of a Program Increment, its purpose, elements, and benefits, to help you effectively apply PIs in your SAFe implementation.
What is a Program Increment in SAFe?
A Program Increment (PI) is a timebox of typically 8-12 weeks during which an Agile Release Train (ART) delivers incremental value in the form of working, tested software and systems.
Within a PI, SAFe divides the development timeline into a series of iterations. The most common pattern is four development iterations, followed by one Innovation and Planning (IP) iteration.
A PI provides cadence and synchronization for the ART, just as an iteration does for an Agile team. The PI is the outer loop of the Shewhart PDCA cycle for planning, building, and validating a full system increment. It allows teams to demonstrate value and get fast feedback.
The PI timebox applies cadence and synchronization to key activities:
- Planning the ART’s next work increment
- Limiting work-in-progress (WIP)
- Summarizing newsworthy value for feedback
- Conducting consistent retrospectives across the ART
A PI typically combines the value developed by each Agile team into a Milestone to objectively measure progress. Its scope also provides an appropriate cadence for Portfolio considerations and roadmapping.
SAFe Program Increment Elements
A SAFe PI has several key elements that enable teams to deliver value incrementally. The main elements are:
PI Planning
The PI Planning event is a face-to-face, 2-day workshop to collaboratively plan the ART’s next PI. All team members, stakeholders, customers, and leadership come together to:
- Review the Vision, Roadmap, and Business Context for the solution
- Analyze the features and capabilities needed to meet the Vision
- Break down features into stories and components
- Estimate the level of effort for each story
- Map dependencies between teams and trains
- Commit to realistic PI Objectives
The participatory planning builds a shared understanding of the goals, priorities, and dependencies of the teams resulting in a detailed PI plan with commitment from all attendees.
Execution Iterations
During the 4-5 development iterations in a PI, Agile Teams pull in stories to build, test, integrate, and validate the features.
Iterations provide a fixed cadence for teams to synchronize frequently, demo working software, get fast feedback, and continuously deliver value. The protective timeboxes help scope work and limit WIP.
At the end of each iteration, teams demo their increment to stakeholders for feedback and validation. Issues can be addressed within the PI.
Innovation and Planning (IP) Iteration
The IP iteration serves two purposes:
- Innovation: Teams work on technical debt reduction, infrastructure improvements, R&D, prototyping, and other enablers for future PIs.
- Planning: Teams prepare for the next PI by refining the backlog, estimating features, and readying the system and teams for upcoming work.
The IP iteration provides time for improving both the product and process.
Read More Here: Innovation and Planning (IP) Iteration
Scrum of Scrums (SoS)
The Scrum of Scrum (SoS) meeting facilitates cross-team coordination to resolve dependencies and impediments. The Release Train Engineer (RTE) leads the SoS attended by representatives from each Agile team.
In the rapid stand-up style meeting, teams discuss:
- Accomplishments since the last SoS
- Planned accomplishments until the next SoS
- Any blockers or dependencies
After the SoS, team members can join a collaborative problem-solving session to resolve issues escalated to the Release Management Team.
The event provides transparency, highlights cross-team dependencies, and helps resolve integration issues early.
System Demo
The system demo is a critical inspection point that occurs at least biweekly. It provides an integrated view of the solution to key stakeholders so they can evaluate the features and capabilities developed during the PI.
Stakeholders get to review and validate the working solution, provide feedback on usability, and suggest any changes. The feedback can help teams adapt stories or features before the end of the PI.
The demos also foster cross-team learning, and collaboration, and drive continuous integration across team boundaries. Team members get visibility into the end-to-end solution being developed instead of just their components.
The recurring system demo cadence helps the ART get regular validation of the system’s fitness for purpose and fast feedback to incorporate.
Backlog Refinement
On a PI cadence, it’s essential that teams have a prepared backlog of prioritized, estimated, and vetted features to pull into the next PI.
The Product Owners and Product Management are responsible for grooming and readying the Program Backlog through ongoing refinement activities. This includes:
- Detailed analysis of upcoming features
- Splitting large features into stories
- Defining acceptance criteria
- Estimating and prioritizing with techniques like WSJF
- Validating features with customers
- Answering teams’ questions on the backlog items
Having a refined backlog reduces ambiguity, provides clarity, and sets up teams for success in PI Planning.
Inspect and Adapt (I&A)
The I&A workshop at the end of each PI has two key outcomes:
- Evaluating the PI and identifying what went well and what needs improvement
- Defining the top improvement hypotheses that could optimize team or program performance
The ART applies problem-solving techniques like root cause analysis to the inspection findings, to determine the vital few enablers to work on.
These enablers are captured as features or stories that help incrementally improve the train’s execution and outcomes. They are fed into the backlog for inclusion in upcoming PIs based on priority.
The I&A workshop and continuous improvement mindset allow the ART to get a little bit better each PI.
Purpose of a SAFe Program Increment
The main purposes of having PIs in SAFe are to:
Deliver Value Frequently
A PI provides a regular cadence for teams to deliver value in the form of working, tested software. It breaks down lengthy development efforts into batches of 8-12 weeks to deliver incremental value.
Stakeholders get to evaluate the solution frequently instead of waiting months. This enables fast feedback and adaptation.
Manage Flow
The fixed PI timeboxes and iteration cadence help teams manage flow and limit work-in-progress (WIP). The scope is constrained, and teams focus on finishing ongoing work before starting new features.
Inspect and Adapt
The I&A workshop at the end of each PI is dedicated time for teams to inspect their work practices and results. They identify the vital few improvements needed to optimize how they function and build which drives continuous improvement across multiple PIs.
Enable Planning Cadence
The predictable PI cadence allows teams to synchronize plans and schedules enterprise-wide. Teams can easily anticipate and prepare for PI planning.
Dependencies are managed more effectively when all teams share the same planning rhythm.
Provide Solution Focus
PI objectives are defined in business terms to deliver a meaningful solution increment. This provides focus for teams and connects work to broader business goals.
Benefits of Program Increment in SAFe
Adopting PI cadence provides several benefits:
- Fast Feedback Cycles: The recurring System Demo gives teams fast feedback from real users on the value delivered. Issues can be fixed within the PI timeframe.
- Continuous Improvement: The Inspect and Adapt workshop at the PI end enables teams to continuously improve their technical, system, and process quality.
- Increased Visibility: Events like PI Planning and Scrum of Scrums provide transparency into team and program status, issues, dependencies, etc.
- Better Predictability: Fixed PI cadences allow teams to reliably forecast objectives and milestones based on measured velocity.
- Managed Workflows: PI timeboxes and iteration cadence help manage WIP and workflow. The scope is fixed for the PI and teams focus on finishing ongoing work first.
- Coordination Across Teams: PI rhythm drives cross-team integration and alignment. System Demos also enable this collaboration.
Final Thoughts on SAFe Program Increments
Program Increments provide the cadence for Agile Release Trains to deliver value incrementally in SAFe. A PI timebox sets the rhythm for planning, building, integrating, validating, and improving solution value.
Adopting PI cadence enables fast feedback, continuous improvement, and increased predictability. It helps manage flow, improve visibility, and drive collaboration.
PIs organize work into an effective pattern to actualize the benefits of Lean-Agile practices in enterprises.
FAQs
How Long is a Program Increment?
A Program Increment (PI) typically lasts between 8-12 weeks. The most common duration for a PI is 8-10 weeks long. Some teams use a 6-week PI duration for faster feedback cycles.
The ideal PI length balances the ability to demonstrate meaningful solution value and the need for fast validation and adaptation.
How Many Sprints in Program Increment?
Typically, a Program Increment (PI) consists of 4-5 Iterations or Sprints. The most common pattern is 4 development Sprints where teams implement features, followed by 1 Innovation and Planning (IP) Sprint.
However, there is no fixed rule on the number of Sprints in a PI. Teams can adjust the duration and number of Sprints per PI based on their development cadence. The goal is to produce a meaningful solution increment by the PI end.
