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Agile Team Iteration and PI Execution
You have an Agile Team; now what? As a Coach, you have an exciting role in working with teams. Too often, the teams get overlooked by Coaches who focus on the ART, or even the organization and leave the teams on their own.
You are likely familiar with the quote:
The part “or anything else” absolutely applies to your teams. If your teams are crappy, then your ART will be crappy, and so on.
In this chapter, we are going to take a look at how we ensure we have a successful team by looking at the following:
- Day-to-Day activities of a Product Owner, Scrum Master/Team Coach, and Agile Team within an Iteration
- Day-to-Day activities of a Product Owner, Scrum Master/Team Coach, and Agile Team within a PI
Day-To-Day within an Iteration
Let’s take a look at the events we hold at the team level as it will provide the foundation for what we largely replicate in a fashion at the ART level. We will look at the events role by role to ensure we align with the basic expectations for teams on the ART.
Iteration Events and the Product Owner
As we discovered in Chapter 2, the Product Owner (PO) is critical to the team. The PO spends a lot of time working with Product Management, Stakeholders, and customers to understand the direction the ART is headed, and then with the team to identify, plan, and coordinate that work. It’s a constant balance of today’s versus tomorrow’s work.
Figure 3.1 outlines the key responsibilities of the PO; however, let’s look at how the PO executes these responsibilities through the various team events.
Figure 3.1 – Product Owner Responsibilities (© Scaled Agile, Inc.)
During the iteration, it’s important that the PO is present and involved with the team every day.
The Product Owner and Iteration Planning
Iteration Planning is one of the most important events for the PO. The PO helps the team understand and select the most important work that needs to be accomplished, and in return, gets a commitment on what will be completed at the end of the iteration.
The PO will provide clarity about the stories or Acceptance Criteria and, collectively with the team, establish the Iteration Goal.
The PO will need to prepare for this event and the preparation is a key part of their responsibilities. As we saw in Figure 3.1, Managing and Prioritizing the Team Backlog is a key responsibility, and the Team Backlog is the primary input into Iteration Planning.
The Product Owner and the Team Sync
At the Team Sync (formerly known as the Daily Stand-up or DSU), the PO should actively participate; answering questions, providing clarity, understanding when items are ready for review. We encourage the PO to attend the Team Sync every day as they are a member on the Agile Team with a speciality role.
The Product Owner and Team Backlog Refinement
Backlog Refinement, just like Iteration Planning, is critical for the PO. The PO will want to ensure that they are capturing the conversations and questions from the team, and then get answers to those questions. The PO will need to provide clarification and feedback on every story or connect the team with customers and/or Stakeholders to get direct answers.
The Definition of Ready (DoR) helps hold the PO and Agile Team accountable for the quality of the stories.
The PO may need to work with Technical Leads or the System Architect on Enabler Stories and also ensure that the Backlog has the right balance (Capacity Allocation) of Enabler versus Stories.
Pro tip
If you are finding that your teams are struggling with their Iteration Planning, it is a sign that you might need more effective Backlog Refinement.
The Product Owner and the Iteration Review
At the Iteration Review, the PO will share with the Stakeholders the Iteration Goal and the progress the team has made toward that goal. The PO will then solicit feedback from the Stakeholders on the work done by the team and share the work likely to be planned for the next iteration.
This is also an opportunity for the PO to seek help from the Stakeholders on challenges the team might have.
The Product Owner and the Iteration Retrospective
The PO needs to be at the Iteration Retrospective as they are a member of the team and are also responsible for helping the team to continuously improve. The PO can contribute ideas to improve the team’s effectiveness just like any other team member. The PO should help the team incorporate the improvement items into the next Iteration Backlog or Team Backlog.
Pro tip
I am often asked, “Does the PO need to be at the Retrospective?” This is a clue that there may be some challenges within the team and, most often, the quality of the stories (also known as we aren’t following or don’t have an agreed upon Definition of Ready), or the PO is wearing multiple hats and isn’t available. The team usually then takes the opportunity to complain about the PO rather than working together to relentlessly improve.
As a Coach, you will often get what seems like an innocuous question; ensure that you dig in a little bit to understand the real root cause of the question.
Iteration Events and the Scrum Master/Team Coach
It’s critical for the Scrum Master/Team Coach (SM/TC) to be involved with the team every day, especially new teams. The Scrum Master/Team Coach carries a lot of the burden in ensuring that the teams are successful and executing effectively.
Figure 3.2 captures the key responsibilities the Scrum Master/Team Coach is responsible for; however, like the PO, the devil is in the details when it comes to the everyday interactions with the team.
Figure 3.2 – Scrum Master/Team Coach responsibilities (© Scaled Agile, Inc.)
The Scrum Master/Team Coach never has two days that will be the same. The team is constantly evolving, the work is changing, dependencies need to be resolved, and the systems are updating. The one constant is that the Scrum Master/Team Coach is the glue that keeps it all together.
There is a common misperception that the Scrum Master/Team Coach is the team administrative assistant, often because the Scrum Master/Team Coach typically schedules and facilitates the Team Events. While the latter is true, without the support and drive to relentlessly improve from the Scrum Master/Team Coach, the team will stagnate.
The Scrum Master/Team Coach and Iteration Planning
The Scrum Master/Team Coach is the facilitator for Iteration Planning. The Scrum Master/Team Coach should help ensure that the PO and the team are ready for planning and with a prioritized Team Backlog. As the facilitator of the event, the Scrum Master/Team Coach will need to pay close attention to the time and help capture and follow up on any new questions that arise.
The Scrum Master/Team Coach often works with the team ahead of time to understand any planned leave that needs to be accounted for in the team’s capacity. The Scrum Master/Team Coach will often have to help the team to make sure they don’t over-plan or commit to more work than they can deliver.
The Scrum Master/Team Coach should ensure commitment to the plan at the end of the event.
The Scrum Master/Team Coach and the Team Sync
The Scrum Master/Team Coach facilitates the Team Sync (formerly the Daily Stand-up or DSU). Facilitation activities in this event include the following:
- Ensuring everyone participates
- Ensuring the event keeps to time (typically 15 minutes)
- Ensuring the team is tracking their progress to the Iteration Goal and adapting plans if necessary
- Providing the team with a way of running in the absence of the Scrum Master/Team Coach
- Providing the team with a mechanism to capture impediments and address them in a Meet-After session
After the Team Sync, the Scrum Master/Team Coach will need to facilitate the resolution of the captured impediments the team raised.
Some pitfalls an Scrum Master/Team Coach will want to avoid are as follows:
- Ensuring this event is such that it doesn’t turn into a status meeting
- Not following up and closing out impediments
The Scrum Master/Team Coach and Backlog Refinement
The Scrum Master/Team Coach facilitates Backlog Refinement in conjunction with the PO. The Scrum Master/Team Coach will want to make sure that the PO is prepared for Backlog Refinement, help track the items that have been or need to be discussed, ensure questions are captured and followed up on, and generally provide support to the PO and team during the event.
The Scrum Master/Team Coach and the Iteration Review
The Scrum Master/Team Coach should ensure that the team is prepared and ready to present their work at the Iteration Review. The Scrum Master/Team Coach may need to work with the team ahead of time to identify how to best present the work.
The Scrum Master/Team Coach will need to work with the PO to determine which Stakeholders should be invited and to create an agenda highlighting the work that the team has completed.
The Scrum Master/Team Coach is a cheerleader at this event, ensuring success is acknowledged and kudos given to the team.
Lastly, the Scrum Master/Team Coach will need to facilitate the preparation and sharing of the iteration metrics and progress toward PI Objectives with the Stakeholders.
The Scrum Master/Team Coach and the Iteration Retrospective
The Iteration Retrospective is where the Scrum Master/Team Coach creativity gets to bloom by using and creating different retrospectives to garner insights from the team. At the retrospective, the Scrum Master/Team Coach needs to create a safe environment for the team to be vulnerable and share their challenges, as well as celebrate their wins from the last iteration.
Capturing and following up on Improvement Items every iteration should not be overlooked, and the Scrum Master/Team Coach is responsible for driving these items within the team.
Pro tip
It is important that the Iteration Retrospective doesn’t become stale by running the same format iteration after iteration. By a similar token, you don’t want to make the Iteration Retrospective super silly. The Scrum Master/Team Coach should focus the retrospective on key areas for improvement encountered with the iteration: for example, topics such as people, interactions, processes, tools, assumptions made, and the Definition of Done. A great reference is Agile Retrospectives by Diane Larsen and Esther Derby [9].
Iteration Activities and the Agile Team
As we look at the responsibilities of an Agile Team in Figure 3.3, we can see that they largely revolve around the work, whom it is for (customer), figuring out what the team will do (planning), doing the work, validating the work (feedback), and relentlessly getting better at the work.
Figure 3.3 – Responsibilities of an Agile Team (© Scaled Agile, Inc.)
To ensure success, there are some key events that we look to the team to participate in. Regardless of how the team is executing (Scrum or Kanban), every team needs to maintain alignment with itself and the ART. We will look at each event in the iteration and the associated responsibilities and activities.
The Agile Team and Iteration Planning
Both Scrum and Kanban teams will participate in planning. Chapter 5 provides a more in-depth look at the process. Scrum Teams will do this once per iteration, whereas a Kanban team may often plan more frequently than a Scrum Team, but for shorter durations.
The entire team needs to be present for planning to ensure alignment, provide input, and commit to the plans.
The Agile Team and Team Sync
Team members need to ensure they attend the Team Sync every day and that they are inspecting progress towards their Iteration Goal, adapting their Iteration Plan if necessary, raising any impediments, and planning their next 24 hours of work.
The Agile Team and Backlog Refinement
All Agile Teams need to be involved in the refinement of the Team Backlog so that they understand the backlog items in order to be able to develop the solution in the iterations. This will involve conversations with the PO and the Stakeholders to gain enough information to split items into small vertical slices that meet the Definition of Done.
The Agile Team and the Iteration Review
The Iteration Review is primarily used by Agile Teams as an opportunity to get feedback from Stakeholders and inspect the outcomes and compare them to the Iteration Goals they have committed to. The Agile Team should present the actual work that was completed that met the Definition of Done. It’s an opportunity for the team to celebrate their successes and to identify and address any challenges and/or stories that were not completed.
Pro tip
Avoid doing PowerPoint presentations; try showing the actual solution that the team has built.
The Agile Team and the Iteration Retrospective
To ensure relentless improvement, it’s important that teams are holding regular retrospectives, and this includes Kanban teams. Many Kanban teams will hold their retrospectives on the same cadence as the ART.
All team members need to participate and provide insight and input into how the iteration went and how to improve moving forward. After all, it’s the team that is ultimately responsible for themselves.
Day-To-Day within a PI
SAFe® is a fractal model; everything we do at the team level, we effectively replicate at the ART level, although the frequency might be different. Figure 3.4 is one of our favorite images from SAFe® because it shows that correlation.
Figure 3.4 – ART events (© Scaled Agile, Inc.)
In this chapter, we need to explore how the PO, Scrum Master/Team Coach, and Agile Team participate in these ART events; however, a more detailed explanation of these events is contained in Part 2. Once you have read Part 2, it might be a good idea to revisit this chapter.
ART Events and the Product Owner
While the PI Event itself isn’t an everyday occurrence, there are activities throughout the PI that involve the PO.
The Product Owner and the PI Planning Event
The Team Backlog is the primary input the PO is responsible for ensuring is prepared for the PI Planning Event. During the event, the PO is critical. In addition to the Team Backlog, the PO is also responsible for ensuring that the team is staying aligned with the priorities outlined by Product Management.
The PO has content authority for the Team Backlog; as the teams are planning their work, questions will often arise, particularly for items in the later iterations, and the PO needs to be available to answer, go get an answer, or provide enough information so that the team can plan the work.
The PO and the Scrum Master/Team Coach often work very closely together at PI Planning, helping to keep the team moving forward with their plans, sequencing the stories, and crafting the PI Objectives.
The Product Owner and PO/ART Sync
The PO needs to attend the PO Sync or ART Sync. This allows the PO to help keep the team aligned with the other teams, reorganize the backlog as new information or dependencies come to light, and share progress toward goals and commitments.
Often, the PO or ART Sync is used to outline the Iteration System Demo based on the work that was completed in the last iteration.
The Product Owner and Iteration System Demos
The PO should be prepared and work with the team to ensure their work is integrated with all of the work from the other teams. The PO should be prepared to help the team show their work within the context of the ART and ensure that Product Management is aware of the work the team is completing and the feedback the team needs from Stakeholders or customers.
The PO and the team should consider what feedback they need or work they want to share each iteration. This can be a good conversation at Iteration Planning.
The Product Owner and the PI System Demo
The PO has a responsibility to make sure the team’s contributions are integrated into the PI System Demo. The PO may even be asked or work with their team to show the work they delivered in the context of the solution.
In the same fashion as the Iteration System Demo, the PO and team can identify in advance what key functionality or feedback they would like to highlight or receive, and the PO can work with Product Management to ensure it is incorporated into the demo.
The Product Owner and the Innovation and Planning Iteration
During the Innovation and Planning (IP) Iteration, the PO will likely be involved with final adjustments to the Vision and Roadmap for the next PI, which includes ART Backlog Refinement.
The IP Iteration is the last opportunity for the PO to socialize the Features so that the teams can create candidate stories in the Team Backlog for PI Planning.
The PO may also work with the team on a hack-a-thon or even attend training with the teams.
ART Events and the Scrum Master/Team Coach
While the Scrum Master/Team Coach works daily with the team, when in a scaled environment, there are additional key events and interactions the Scrum Master/Team Coach participates in.
The Scrum Master/Team Coach and the PI Planning Event
The PI Planning Event is an extremely hectic event for the Scrum Master/Team Coach. We’ve included some key activities that the Scrum Master/Team Coach usually helps with, which, while not comprehensive, will help create a successful event.
In preparation for the PI Planning Event, the Scrum Master/Team Coach should do the following:
- Calculate Team Capacity for each of the iterations for the PI based on up-to-date Team Velocity taking into account any planned holidays/vacations
- Set up team space with appropriate supplies
- Work with the PO to prepare the Team Backlog and stories
- Help RTE to ensure a successful event
This is what the Scrum Master/Team Coach should do during the PI Planning Event:
- Keep the team engaged and on track
- Participate in Coach Syncs
- Adhere to Time Boxes
- Keep Boards (Team, ART Planning, and Risks) up to date
- Manage Dependencies
This is what the Scrum Master/Team Coach should do after the PI Planning Event:
- Help clean up the space
- Make sure that plans are captured in your Agile Tool or whatever method you choose to use
It’s important that the Scrum Master/Team Coach is prepared for the event and understands how the event flows, their responsibilities, and how to help the ART be successful.
The Scrum Master/Team Coach and Iteration System Demos
The Scrum Master/Team Coach helps the team ensure they are integrating their work with the other teams on the ART at each iteration. The Scrum Master/Team Coach partners with the PO to ensure the team members attend and participate in the Iteration System Demo, that their completed work is incorporated into the Iteration System Demo, and that the team receives any feedback from the Iteration System Demos.
The Scrum Master/Team Coach and the Coach Sync/ART Sync
The Scrum Master/Team Coach meets and shares with other Scrum Masters/Team Coaches or ART members the current progress toward delivering the PI Objectives, discusses dependencies between the teams to ensure alignment, and raises and helps to resolve any impediments.
The Scrum Master/Team Coach and Inspect & Adapt (I&A)
Often, the Scrum Master/Team Coach is called upon by the RTE to help with the various I&A activities.
Like the Iteration System Demo, the Scrum Master/Team Coach will want to work with the PO to ensure the work is represented at the PI System Demo. Additionally, the Scrum Master/Team Coach may need to help coordinate schedules for dry runs of the demo, help ensure the team is prepared, and celebrate the success with the team.
The RTE may request the Scrum Master/Team Coach to pull and compile various metrics that will be presented in the Quantitative and Qualitative Metrics section. The Scrum Master/Team Coach may also facilitate the Competency Assessments for their teams.
The Scrum Master/Team Coach is often an excellent candidate to facilitate one of the groups for the Problem-Solving Workshop. A success pattern we recommend is that the RTE facilitate a workshop with the Scrum Master/Team Coach prior to the event so that the Scrum Master/Team Coach understands their role in the workshop and how to best facilitate the activity.
Pro tip
When a Scrum Master/Team Coach helps to facilitate a Problem-Solving Workshop, they often don’t get a chance to fully participate in the problems and then the solutions. As a recommendation, if you have other ARTs within your organization, consider using a Scrum Master/Team Coach from the other ARTs to help facilitate, so that the incumbent Scrum Master/Team Coach can fully participate in their ART Problem-Solving Workshop.
Innovation and Planning Iteration and the Scrum Master/Team Coach
In conjunction with the PO and the team, the Scrum Master/Team Coach will help the team with the activities they are undertaking, whether that is holding a hack-a-thon, organizing or attending training, or addressing technical debt.
Also, they will support the RTE with the final preparation for PI Planning, including ensuring that the PO and the team have a Team Backlog ready for PI Planning.
ART Events and the Agile Team
When we scale, we need to ensure that we maintain alignment. There are several activities and events that the teams are involved with during the PI. Let’s take a look at the key events.
The Agile Team and Iteration System Demos
The team will work with the other teams to ensure their work is integrated and demoed at every Iteration System Demo. The team members should also attend and participate in the Iteration System Demo for understanding and alignment with the other teams. This is a great opportunity for the team to hear directly from Stakeholders and get real-time feedback on the entire solution.
The Agile Team and the PI System Demo
In the same fashion as the Iteration System Demos, the teams will need to integrate and demo their work that was completed over the course of the PI. Participation at this event is necessary and continues to build alignment and trust across the ART.
The Innovation and Planning Iteration and the Agile Team
During the Innovation and Planning (IP) iteration, the Agile Team often engages in various activities that are not directly related to delivery but are focused on improving the team’s productivity and effectiveness. Some typical activities include the following:
- Conduct research on emerging technologies to inform future decisions
- Review and refine the team’s processes. Review and adjust the DoD, DoR, Working Agreements, and so on
- Engage in team-building activities to improve collaboration and communication among team members
- Develop and improve skills and knowledge through training and education
- Collaborate with other teams and Stakeholders during PI Planning
- Hold a hack-a-thon to create prototypes or proofs of concept to validate assumptions or explore new ideas
- Address technical debt or other areas of improvement that may have been previously identified
The team will want to work closely with the Scrum Master/Team Coach and PO to identify and determine the activities they are undertaking during the IP Iteration.
Summary
We have discovered the importance of having cadenced-based and synchronized events for the teams in an ART, regardless of its type (Scrum, Kanban, etc.). These events serve as checkpoints for the team’s progress and are crucial for effective and efficient delivery, as well as achieving high performance. We delved into events such as Iteration Planning, Team Sync, Backlog Refinement, Iteration Reviews, Iteration Retrospectives, and Iteration System Demos. We looked at both SAFe® Scrum and SAFe® Kanban Teams. Lastly, we now understand that how the PO, Scrum Master/Team Coach, and Agile Teams participate in the ART Events including PI Planning, IP Iteration, PI System Demo, and the Syncs.
Further reading
- Product Owner: https://scaledagileframework.com/product-owner/
- Scrum Master/Team Coach: https://scaledagileframework.com/scrum-master-team-Coach/
- Agile Teams: https://scaledagileframework.com/agile-teams/
- SAFe® Scrum: https://scaledagileframework.com/safe-scrum/
- SAFe® Team Kanban: https://scaledagileframework.com/safe-team-kanban/
- Team Flow: https://scaledagileframework.com/team-flow/
- Team Backlog: https://scaledagileframework.com/team-backlog/
- Team and Technical Agility: https://scaledagileframework.com/team-and-technical-agility/
- Derby, E., & Larsen, D. (2006). Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great. The Pragmatic Bookshelf.