Working in the program room

• PI Planning Checklist
• Sprints
• Runway
• Your work items

To better prepare for the launch of a PI, use this checklist with configurable steps to cover your needs. By default, only Program Managers, Product Managers, and RTEs can check items on the checklist. Once a PI is in execute mode and committed against, the checklist is locked and users can no longer check or uncheck the checklist.

PI Planning Checklist

The Program Increment Planning Checklist progress is based on the number of steps checked over the total number of steps. The following are the default steps, but you can create your own checklist via the Checklist icon on the Configuration bar and have it display in the Program Room; just be sure to save the checklist as a public shared checklist and tie it to the Program Room and the target portfolio via the New Checklist Details panel.

Program Increment Planning Checklist:

• Set up the forecast. Customize the forecast for the program increment and teams.
• Review the Roadmap. Confirm your vision and review your milestones across
• Review the prior program increment. Handle any features that were not completed.
• Set up sync sprints. Synchronize the sprints that are used to create team sprints.
• Work with the backlog. Define the requirements for the PI.
• Define objectives. Ensure your teams are aligned with key objectives.
• Update team capacities. Team capacities determine the program capacity.
• Build the Program Board. The Program Board is a key output of program increment planning.
• Groom Features. Ensure the features are correct and understood.
• Create and estimate stories for features. These are the user stories needed to deliver the features.
• Identify dependencies. Identify dependencies between teams.
• Identify risks. Determine how to deal with risks.
• Commit and start the PI. Starting the PI will take a snapshot of the plan.

Sprints

The sprints belonging to the PI you selected appear. If the PI does not have any sprints associated, you can create them directly here. Your sprints must be synchronized to all your teams that appear here. If they are not, you can synchronize them directly here.

For each sprint, a green bar shows percent complete for all teams contributing to that anchor sprint within the program or PI selected. Point to the progress bar to view the percent complete, which is calculated as points accepted divided by a total number of points. Stories must be assigned to the sprint to be included in the calculation, but don't need to be accepted within sprint dates to be included.

A diamond icon shows the release vehicle’s ship date. Point to the diamond icon to see the name of the release vehicle and percent complete.

Objectives appear as star icons based on their target completion dates. Point to the star icon to see the name of the objective. 

Runway

The Runway Card shows runway for epics, capabilities, features, and stories with their goal and the actual result, which helps get a visualization of your work balance. If the pointer is to the right of the target, you may have too much work defined. If the pointer is to the left of the target, you may not have enough work defined. 

You can manage your goals through the gear icon on the card. Here, you can change the runway goal and target range for each work item. The epic, capability, and feature goal is in months, and the story goal is in sprints.

The target range is selected as a percentage that signifies how close the user wants to be to the goal.

• Default goals:
  • Epics: 6 months
  • Capabilities: 6 months
  • Features: 4 months
  • Stories: 6 sprints
• Default target range percentage: 20%

A diamond icon always appears in the middle of the bar to signify the goal. The far left is 0% of the goal and the far right is 200% of the goal. The pointer representing the actual value also appears on the bar. This actual value represents the approximate amount of time it may take for teams to complete all planned work. For features, epics and capabilities, the actual value is determined using your Monte Carlo settings, and is measured in months: 

Actual value = Estimate of work for features, capabilities, or epics in the program that have not started (in team weeks, regardless of PI)  / 4 / number of teams in the program 

For stories, the value is determined using LOE points, and is measured in sprints: 

Actual value = Total LOE points for stories in the program that have not started (regardless of PI) / average velocity of all teams in the program

If the actual value falls before or after the goal within the standard deviation set by the target range, the bar turns green. If it is outside that standard deviation, the bar turns red.  

Your work items

All features, capabilities, and epics assigned to the selected program and PI appear in the list view. You can toggle between the Feature view or the Feature by Epic view. If capabilities are turned on, you can use the Feature by Capability view. When in the Feature by Epic or Feature by Capability view, you can view more work items if desired in either a collapsed or expanded list view using the Expand All or Collapse All buttons, respectively. 

When applicable, you may see additional sections at the bottom of the grid:

Feature view

• Orphan Stories: Stories that do not have a parent feature.
• Misaligned Stories: Stories that are assigned to a sprint within the PI being viewed, while their parent feature is assigned to a different PI.

Feature by Capability and Feature by Epic views

• Standalone Features: Features that do not have a parent capability or epic.
• Assigned Capability/Epic is not Planned for this program increment: Features that are assigned to the PI being viewed, while their parent epic or capability is assigned to a different PI.

When you expand a feature, you can then quickly add stories by inputting the story name and effort points estimate, and then clicking Add. The new story shows at the top of the list.

Use the search text field to search for work items by ID or name.

Use the gear icon to tailor the custom column configuration for your work items.

See also

Manage PI Planning in the Program Room