How do we handle the logistical challenges of a remote Program Increment (PI) Planning session?

All answers to this question.

Transitioning PI Planning to a remote setup requires a robust digital "Program Board." Tools like Miro or Mural are essential for visualizing dependencies in real-time. I recommend breaking the 125 people into smaller "breakout rooms" for team planning, but keeping a main "Plenary" room for the Business Context and Vision presentations. The most important factor is the "Scrum of Scrums" sync every hour during the planning process. This allows Scrum Masters to identify cross-team blockers early so the final Plan Review isn't a surprise. Also, ensure you have a dedicated "Tech Support" channel to handle the inevitable connection issues without disrupting the flow of the event.

   Answered 2024-05-17 by Patricia Williams

Have you considered the time-zone overlap? If you have teams in India, Europe, and the US, a 2-day event usually has to be stretched into 3 or 4 shorter days to avoid burnout.

   Answered 2024-05-20 by Thomas Clark

• Thomas, we actually tried the 4-day "Split Schedule" last quarter. We held the core synchronization during the 4-hour window where everyone was online simultaneously. For the rest of the time, teams worked asynchronously in their local hours and updated the digital board. It reduced the "Zoom fatigue" significantly and resulted in a much more realistic Program Board than our previous attempts at 24-hour marathons.

     Commented 2024-05-22 by James Wilson

You need a very strong Release Train Engineer (RTE) to facilitate. In a remote setting, the RTE acts more like a TV producer than just a meeting moderator.

   Answered 2024-05-25 by Susan Moore

• I agree with Susan. The RTE needs to be proactive in hopping between breakout rooms to ensure teams aren't getting stuck on a single dependency for too long.

     Commented 2024-05-27 by Robert Miller