PI Execution
Keeping the ART moving between planning events
PI Execution is the rhythm that keeps multiple teams delivering one solution. The key events:
- PO Sync - weekly or more often: Product Management and POs review Feature progress, adjust scope, and manage cross-team dependencies.
- ART Sync - the combined Scrum of Scrums plus PO Sync: coaches and the RTE address delivery and impediments; POs address content and dependencies.
- System Demo - at least every two weeks or at the end of each iteration: an integrated demonstration of the full solution, not a team demo. Product Management and POs check Feature acceptance criteria here.
- Mid-PI check-in - are PI Objectives still achievable? Re-plan or escalate.
- Inspect & Adapt - after the PI System Demo: a program retrospective with a problem-solving workshop producing owned, tracked improvements, then planning for the next PI.
Measurement: velocity for forecasting (never as a performance review), the predictability measure (planned versus actual business value of PI Objectives), and flow metrics such as flow load, time, distribution, and efficiency.
Rule of thumb
If a Feature won't meet its acceptance criteria by the end of the PI, say so at PO Sync - not at the PI System Demo. Early honest re-scoping beats a surprise.
Traps
Calling the System Demo “team demos run back to back” (it must show integration); treating I&A as a status meeting rather than root-cause analysis with owners and due dates; forgetting the PI System Demo shows everything built in the PI; assuming refinement stops during PI execution; confusing the predictability measure (business value) with velocity (points).