During PI Planning, newly identified risks and dependencies should be made visible to the entire ART. Bringing a clear risk statement to the program level allows for cross-ART collaboration, potential reprioritization, or problem-solving with other teams and stakeholders. This is a core practice for managing program-level risks effectively.

Carryover is often a symptom of systemic issues like an inadequate Definition of Done (DoD) or technical debt. The most effective, long-term solution is for the PO to partner with the team in the retrospective to inspect and adapt their process. Improving the DoD to include better testing and quality practices addresses the root cause of the emergent defects.

The Team Backlog is the single source of truth for the work a specific Agile Team will perform. It contains the user and enabler stories, along with defects, that refine and implement the Features allocated to that team from the Program Backlog. It’s managed by the Product Owner for that team.

Clear, user-centric acceptance criteria are essential for ensuring the team builds the right thing. Vague criteria can lead to a technically sound solution that misses the mark on actual user need and business value. This disconnect is often revealed too late, at the system demo.

In SAFe, balancing feature development with enabler work is critical for maintaining the architectural runway. The recommended practice is for the PO and team to agree on a capacity allocation (often 20-30%) for enabler work during backlog refinement and planning. This makes the investment visible and sustainable.

This distinction is fundamental to SAFe’s hierarchical backlog model. Epics are large, cross-cutting initiatives that require significant investment and analysis (via the Lean Portfolio Management process). Features are smaller chunks of solution functionality that are sized to be delivered by an ART within a single Program Increment.

Stretch objectives are used to identify work that can be done if extra capacity becomes available. They are important for transparency but are explicitly not included in the team’s commitment. This allows teams to make realistic commitments while still showcasing potential additional value.

SAFe emphasizes maintaining iteration integrity. Once an iteration starts, the plan should remain stable to allow the team to focus. New requests, no matter how urgent, should go into the backlog and be prioritized for the next planning event. This protects the team’s predictability and focus.

While the RTE typically facilitates the I&A, the Product Owner is a key participant. They help review quantitative metrics (like PI predictability) and contribute qualitative insights from their team’s perspective during the retrospective. Their focus is on how the planning, backlog management, and value delivery processes can be improved.

During PI Planning, newly identified risks and dependencies should be made visible to the entire ART. Bringing a clear risk statement to the program level allows for cross-ART collaboration, potential reprioritization, or problem-solving with other teams and stakeholders. This is a core practice for managing program-level risks effectively.0