“Effective Program Planning is About More Than a Single Event…Why Your PI Planning Session isn’t Eliminating the Chaos”

by | Jan 31, 2019

Track 4: Scaling Agile to Enterprise | Room: 1454 – Auditorium
Tyler Spindel, Program Delivery lead, Capital One

Ahhh, the good-ole PI planning session, the lifeblood of Agile at scale. They always seem to be such a great idea. Most times, the day itself goes very smoothly. But two weeks later, the chaos, confusion, and dependency constraints are back, and no one knows why.

Programs often focus on the day of the PI planning session itself. The key to unifying teams around an objective, however, is continuously planning and adjusting on an iterative basis. The PI session itself is just a ceremony. This talk will help participants figure out the optimal framework for their program planning processes, how to prepare for the PI session (if they need it), and how see things through to the next PI.

First, we will dive into dependency mapping, laying out 4 common models programs operate in based on how teams interact. Once interaction models are understood, we can determine what type of planning events are required and how to help teams follow-through on their commitments. This framework strives to making planning a continuous process that stays agile and molds to a program’s needs, not a single day where teams commit to 3 months work.

Interspersed through the presentation will be real-life examples of planning successes and failures. Emphasis will be placed not on what was done, but how we decided to do it that way, encouraging attendees to think about their own programs and how to adapt the concepts to meet their specific needs.

Tyler Spindel an Agile Program Lead at Capital One in Wilmington, DE. In this role, he leads the agilists for two programs that support core banking operations at America’s largest direct bank. In his 6 years using a variety of home-grown and industry standard scaling techniques, Tyler has led agile organizations that support over 20 teams. Through these efforts, he reduced cycle time through eliminating dependencies, increased delivered value through effective prioritization, and in one case, even improved commitment reliability from 60% to over 90%. A lean enthusiast, Tyler challenges programs to implement the minimum amount of management necessary to keep teams delivering maximum value. He believes the most effective programs resist the temptation to use a single “textbook” scaled approach. Instead leadership deeply understands dependencies, aggressively works to remove or mitigate them, and iterates to find a customized methodology that meets the unique needs of their organization.