Last week, the McKenna Consultants Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe®) Planning In Action workshop worldwide tour crossed the Irish Sea and took us to Cork, Ireland. The meet up was well attended with over 25 keen agilists ready and eager to find out more about the world of SAFe®!
Our Commercial Director and Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe®) Program Consultant (SPC), Aaron McKenna, took the early flight out of Manchester last Thursday morning to run the workshop for the Agile Cork group at the VCE building at City Gate Park. The workshop was thoroughly enjoyed by all of the participants who really got involved in the activities and understood the benefits of such a planning session at scale.
You can browse some of the photos from the event here:
Thanks to everyone who came along to this session. I thought it was very informative and great fun. Thanks to Aaron for facilitating!
– Chris Walsh, EMC
At the time of writing, the remaining dates* on our Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe®) Planning In Action tour are as follows:
- Thursday 8th October 2015 – Lean Agile Scotland (Conference ticket required)
- Tuesday 13th October 2015 – Agile North East
- Friday 23rd October 2015 – Agile Tour London 2015 (Conference ticket required)
- Thursday 29th October 2015 – Agile Derby
- Tuesday 10th November 2015 – Agile Yorkshire
- Saturday 28th November 2015 – Agile Serbia 2015, Belgrade (Conference ticket required)
- TBC January 2016 – Adventures With Agile, London
- Thursday 28th January 2016 – South Wales Agile Group
- Thursday 28th January 2016 – Derbyshire Dot Net
* Further dates TBC.
Did you hear about our discounted public Leading SAFe® training course on 13th & 14th January 2016 at the National Space Centre?
What Is PI Planning?
Programme Increment (PI) Planning is the heartbeat event of SAFe. It brings together all teams on an Agile Release Train for a two-day face-to-face planning session where they align on objectives, identify dependencies, and commit to delivery goals for the upcoming programme increment — typically an 8 to 12 week period.
PI Planning is often described as the most valuable ceremony in SAFe because it creates alignment, surfaces risks early, and builds the trust between teams that makes coordination possible without bureaucratic overhead. To see how PI Planning works in a real-world setting, read about PI Planning in FMCG manufacturing or our experience with PI Planning at 4Com.
Why We Created the "SAFe Planning In Action" Workshop
PI Planning is powerful but challenging to facilitate well. Many organisations struggle with their first few PI Planning events — they underestimate the preparation required, fail to manage dependencies effectively, or lose energy during the second day.
We created the "SAFe Planning In Action" workshop to give practitioners a safe environment to experience the mechanics and dynamics of PI Planning before running it for real. Participants work through a simulated PI Planning event, experiencing each phase first-hand — from vision setting through team breakouts, draft plan reviews, risk identification, and the confidence vote.
The workshop at Agile Cork attracted over 25 participants from a wide range of industries, and the feedback confirmed what we have found consistently: teams that practise PI Planning in a workshop setting run significantly better real-world events. For a broader introduction to the framework, read our guide on the basics of SAFe.
Explore our agile services for PI Planning facilitation, or book a free consultation to discuss your scaled agile needs.
