Stayin' Alive! Feature Disco Your Way to PI Planning

Presented by: Em Campbell-Pretty, CEO & SAFe Fellow, Pretty Agile and Adrienne Wilson, VP of Operations & SPCT Candidate, Pretty Agile at the 2020 Global SAFe Summit

Does your ART struggle to build a meaningful backlog before PI Planning? Do features arrive incomplete, unclear, or unready for WSJF?

This session introduces Feature Disco—a practical, repeatable approach to Continuous Exploration that keeps your ART “stayin’ alive” between PIs. Learn how to:
• Allocate discovery capacity to prepare high-quality features.
• Use Epic Disco workshops to move epics through the Portfolio Kanban.
• Apply impact mapping to define valuable, testable features.
• Run a “Feature Auction” to balance demand and capacity.
• Build shared understanding through structured “dance steps” for feature refinement.

Discover how operationalising Feature Disco builds alignment, improves predictability, and keeps your teams collaborating instead of firefighting.

Transcript

1. Stayin’ Alive! Feature Disco Your Way to PI Planning
2. EM CAMPBELL-PRETTY CEO & SAFE FELLOW PRETTY AGILE ADRIENNE WILSON VP OF OPERATIONS & SPCT-CANDIDATE PRETTY AGILE
3. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks Does your ART have trouble building a backlog for PI Planning?
4. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks Do your teams complain that their features “lack information”? Do the teams on your ART complain that features “lack information”?
5. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks Is your ART’s Innovation & Planning Iteration all pre-planning and no innovation?
6. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks Image source: https://flic.kr/p/TpYm2C @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks
7. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks
8. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks © Scaled Agile, Inc.
9. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks
10. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks
11. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks How do we do this? Allocate % capacity to “Disco” Continuous Exploration
12. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks WHAT IS ”DISCO”? “Disco” aka Discovery is a time-box that teams on the ART use • to learn about, • refine and, • size features likely to be prioritised for the next PI ahead of PI Planning.
13. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks The Rules of Disco - No one can steal your disco time - Not your Product Owner - Not your Product Manager - Not another team - NO ONE! - You must Disco during your Disco time!
15. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks EPICS FLOW THROUGH THE PORTFOLIO KANBAN… AIDED BY THE EPIC OWNER
16. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks WHO IS THE EPIC OWNER? “Epic Owners are responsible for coordinating Epics through the Portfolio Kanban system. They collaboratively define the epic, its Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and Lean business case, and when approved, facilitate implementation.” © Scaled Agile, Inc. ?
17. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks
18. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks Outputs Who Attends? Process Purpose: Shared understanding and alignment PUT EPIC REVIEW WORKSHOPS ON CADENCE Weekly Monthly Epic Hypothesis Statement High level solution on a page High level estimate When? Collaborate in front of a whiteboard or equivalent + POs + Tech Leads + SMEs etc. © Scaled Agile, Inc.
19. @AgileCanuck @PrettyAgile #notrainwrecks Epic Disco!
20. @AgileCanuck @PrettyAgile #notrainwrecks Goal Actors Impact Deliverables USE IMPACT MAPPING TO BREAK DOWN EPICS INTO FEATURES Why are we doing this? Who can produce the desired effect? How should our actors' behaviour change? What can we do, as a delivery team, to support the required impacts?
21. @AgileCanuck @PrettyAgile #notrainwrecks Business Outcome Hypothesis Features
22. @AgileCanuck @PrettyAgile #notrainwrecks FEATURES IDENITIFED THROUGH IMPACT MAPPING HAVE A BUILT IN BENEFIT HYPOTHESIS
23. @AgileCanuck @PrettyAgile #notrainwrecks
24. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks CHOOSE YOUR DISCO AT THE FEATURE AUCTION Product Management/System Architect pitches features in priority order Teams “bid” for features they would like If we get stuck, pause and move to next feature Teams take 1 feature each Rinse & repeat until each team is at capacity
25. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks • Agile Team(s) • Product Management • System Architect(s) • Subject Matter Experts Purpose: To discuss and align understanding as a team; ultimately completing a feature definition which meets the definition of ready for WSJF. HOW DO WE FEATURE DISCO? 2 hours initial session + follow up sessions (as needed) Let’s Dance!
26. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks WHAT ARE THE DANCE STEPS? Step 4: Estimate the work in points Step 1: Product Management & System Architect(s) explain the feature & the business problem it aims to solve Step 2: The team asks clarify questions & whiteboards the updated solution on a page. Be sure to clarify and capturing feature boundaries Step 3: Identify and take actions to resolve any outstanding big questions/concerns/arch guidance Step 5: Complete the feature definition template together If you get stuck, work out what information you need and who can get it to continue
27. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks EVOLVE A FEATURE DEFINITION TEMPLATE FROM YOUR FEATURE DOR
28. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks • Agile Teams • RTE • Product Management • System Architect(s) Purpose: To build shared understanding of the feature across the ART and subsequent “acceptance” of the Feature Disco by the ART AFTER PARTY AKA FEATURE DISCO REVIEW Iteration Review, or System Demo or separate Disco Review meeting on cadence Feature Definition and Solution on a Page What? Who? When?
29. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks BUILD A KANBAN SYSTEM TO MAKE DISCO HAPPEN! Epics Features
30. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks AND OPERATIONALISE IT ON A BIG WALL Epic Kanban Program Kanban
31. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks Want to know more? Check out: http://bit.ly/DailyCocktailHour “If you walk into this project on any day before 10:15am, it will feel like walking into a cocktail party! People are everywhere, standing in small groups and communicating.” -Henrik Kniberg, Lean from the Trenches Daily Cocktail Hour ART Sync
32. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks
33. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks FOLLOWING THE DISCO STEPS IMPROVES PROGRAM PREDICATBILITY
34. @PrettyAgile @AgileCanuck #notrainwrecks
35. w w w.prettyag i l e .c o m Em Campbell-Pretty CEO | SAFe Fellow | SPCT @PrettyAgile linkedin.com/in/ejcampbellpretty/ em@prettyagile.com Adrienne Wilson VP of Operations | SPCT Candidate @AgileCanuck linkedin.com/in/adriennelwilson adrienne@prettyagile.com
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