Remote Working in a SAFe Environment: Collaborative Online Meetings and Fully Distributed PI Planning

REMOTE WORKING IN A SAFe
ENVIRONMENT:
Collaborative Online Meetings and
Fully Distributed PI Planning

3
OUR SPEAKERS
©2020 Cprime, Inc. All rights reserved | Do not copy without express written permission.
ANDREW SALES
SAFe Program Consultant Trainer (SPCT), Scaled Agile
• SAFe Program Consultant Trainer (SPCT) and member of
Scaled Agile Framework team
• Has been supporting organizations with their Agile
transformations for 10+ years
• Speaker at Agile conferences and contributor to the
Agile community
• Andrew previously led the Agile Services Practice across
EMEA for CA Technologies (formerly Rally)

4
OUR SPEAKERS
©2020 Cprime, Inc. All rights reserved | Do not copy without express written permission.
MIKE CAREW
Delivery Director & Agile Coach, Cprime
• 40+ years experience across spectrum of industries
• Variety of roles from Developer, Architect,
Company Director, Group Manager to Agile Coach
• Has introduced agile to 30+ organizations at the Scrum
and team level and guided transformations that involve
technical and business teams
• Enjoys training and helping people understand what
Agile can do for them and their companies

AGENDA
01
COLLABORATIVE ONLINE MEETINGS & DISTRIBUTED
PLANNING
02 MEETING PATTERNS
03 FULLY REMOTE PI PLANNING PREPARATION
04 FULLY REMOTE PI PLANNING EXECUTION
05 CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION / Q&A

COLLABORATIVE ONLINE MEETINGS
AND DISTRIBUTED PI PLANNING

COLLABORATIVE ONLINE MEETINGS AND
FULLY DISTRIBUTED PI PLANNING
• Guiding the necessary behaviours for remote working with a Lean-Agile
mindset
• Techniques for leading collaborative online meetings
• Overcoming pitfalls and success patterns for remote events
• Preparing and facilitating a successful, fully distributed PI Planning
• Recent experiences from Scaled Agile and their first remote PI Planning

REMOTE WORKING EVENTS
©2020 Cprime, Inc. All rights reserved | Do not copy without express written permission. 8
• Meetings
• Workshops
• Coaching
• Training
• Development
• Interacting
• PI Planning
• Scrum Ceremonies
• Townhalls
• Pair Programming
CAN DO REMOTE

WHAT ARE THE BASICS
• Some things never change, they just get even more important.
We still need to plan our time together
• Ground Rules (Ways of Working)
• Agenda
• Purpose
• Car Park
• Touching the slides (Walk the Walls) is still important, how is it done
remotely?
• Proper prior planning prevent p… poor performance (7 Ps)

GROUND RULES OR WORKING AGREEMENT
WAYS OF WORKING
• Respect the speaker
• One conversation at a time
• Start and end on time
• Mobiles muted and not distracting
• 10-minute break per hour
• Stay on mute unless you are speaking

PURPOSES AND AGENDAS
PURPOSE
To: Explore techniques and tools for remote events
By: Webinar including slides and discussion from people who are
doing it and helping others do it.
So That: We can leave with an understanding of some of the tools
and techniques to successful remote meetings and see an
example of a PI planning event done remotely

USING TOOLS
• Zoom
• Microsoft Teams
• Sococo
• The Phone
• Slack
• Mural
• Google Docs
• Office 365
• Confluence,
Media Wiki
• Jira, VersionOne,
Rally and so on
• Weave
• Box
• Too many to mention

MEETING PATTERNS
10
Minutes
10
Minutes
30
Minutes
30
Minutes
30
Minutes

MEETING PATTERNS
10
Minutes
10
Minutes
30
Minutes
30
Minutes
30
Minutes
• Why are we here?
• What is the problem we are trying to solve?
• What needs to change?
• What is driving the change?
• Documents, slides or spreadsheets?

MEETING PATTERNS
10
Minutes
10
Minutes
30
Minutes
30
Minutes
30
Minutes
• Break out rooms
• Whiteboards
• Post it notes
• World Café
• Online Documents

MEETING PATTERNS
10
Minutes
10
Minutes
30
Minutes
30
Minutes
30
Minutes
• Grouping
• Presentations from the groups
• More post-its
• Presentations
• Whiteboards
• Question and answer
• Turn-around presentations
• 1-2-4 ALL
• Structured Go-Around

MEETING PATTERNS
10
Minutes
10
Minutes
30
Minutes
30
Minutes
30
Minutes
• Dot Voting
• Roman Voting/Fist of Five
• Spikes created
• 1-2-4 ALL (Again)
• Whiteboards
• Post-its

MEETING PATTERNS
10
Minutes
10
Minutes
30
Minutes
30
Minutes
30
Minutes
• Confirm the decisions
• Whiteboards
• Wiki Tools
• ALM
• Presentation

TEMPLATED WORKSPACES
• Car Park/Parking Lot
• Ways of Working
• Course Objectives
• Empathy Map Canvas
• A3 or Canvas in
Remote Working

REMOTE TIPS AND ADVANTAGES
1. Be careful with recordings; always make sure you have permission from all.
2. Make use of breakout rooms where possible.
3. Sharing and collaboration tools are now familiar to everyone. Keep using them.
4. Take advantage of the flexibility for venues, dates and times.
5. Note that is is now easier to record the results of exercises conducted by the teams.
6. Always Pair Teach and use a co-facilitator when possible.
7. Flexibility as to timing and Venues.
8. Lots of tools that can be used.
9. Online translation tools (These have been mentioned with some success).
10. Things can be recorded for people in far time zones and simply unavailable.

23© Scaled Agile, Inc. 23© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Fully Remote PI Planning Preparation

24© Scaled Agile, Inc.
A Lean-Agile Mindset

Three Day Planning Agenda
Times are as posted but flexible to the planning process.
Make the time box work for you!
DAY 1
4Opening
4Business Context
4Product Vision
4Planning Guidance
4Team Breakouts #1
4SOS(s)
4Retro
DAY 3
4Team Breakouts #2
(EMEA/APAC)
4Business Value
Assignment
4Final Plan Review
4ROAM Risks
4PI Confidence Vote
4Re-work (if necessary)
4Appreciations
4Retro/Close
4Team Breakouts #1
(EMEA, APAC)
4SOS(s)
4Draft Plan Review
4Mgmt. Review & Problem
Solving
4Planning Adjustments
4Team Breakouts #2
4Retro
DAY 2
5-6Hours

DAY 1
4Opening
4Business Context
4Product Vision
4Planning Guidance
4Team Breakouts #1
4SOS(s)
4Retro
DAY 3
4Team Breakouts #2
(EMEA/APAC)
4Business Value
Assignment
4Final Plan Review
4ROAM Risks
4PI Confidence Vote
4Appreciations
4Retro/Close
4Team Breakouts #1
(EMEA, APAC)
4SOS(s)
4Draft Plan Review
Solving
4Team Breakouts #2
4Retro
DAY 2
5-6Hours

Multiple Facilitators for the Event
Remote PI Planning has a lot of moving parts – facilitation is a
collaborative effort.
4Do a dry run of the PI planning event with the
facilitators and Scrum Masters to ensure they
understand the process.
4Create a facilitators ‘cheat sheet’ will clear
running order and responsibilities.
4E.g. one person can monitor the questions
coming in, another can be facilitating the
briefings.
4Ensure technical support is identified and
available for the entire event.
‘One of the highlights was how the Scrum
Masters pulled everything together,
including the live music!!’

► Have clear working agreements
► Run an activity to prepare them
ahead of the event
► Continue to iterate them throughout
the event
► Check in with them at the start of
each day
Remote planning meetings: Working agreements
WORKING AGREEMENTS
• Cameras on
• Use headphones with a microphone
• One conversation at a time
• Mind your airtime
• Introduce yourself when you join a
team channel
• Use chat for questions during large
sessions
• Don’t work alone without your teams
(during breaks/lunch)

Collaborative Tools to Simulate a Physical Event

4Build on existing knowledge of
participating in a PI Planning event.
4Scrum Masters run the teams through
the tools ahead of the event.
4A standardized approach to the tooling
reduces the support overhead.
4All information is available from a single
location.
‘Having the links to the team boards and the hangouts for the team meetings
was extremely helpful.’

Creating Communication Pathways
Channel
Types
Purpose
A ‘facilitators’
channel
For the RTE, Scrum Masters, and any additional facilitators.
A ‘support’
channel
For attendees to request help if they are having technical issues or
need general assistance from support staff in various locations.
A general ‘PI
planning event’
channel
for announcements to be broadcast to all attendees, such as alerts
when shared documents have been uploaded and logging questions
during briefings.
Team channels For each of the teams where questions and issues can be posted from other teams.
A ‘continuous
feedback’
channel.
Although the PI Planning event concludes with a retrospective,
continuous feedback enables facilitators to respond to feedback in a
timely manner.
Feature channels For discussion of specific features.

Fully Remote PI Planning Execution

‘Everyone Together’ Presentations
4Upload the presentations ahead of the
event.
4Record all the presentations (separately if
possible).
4Each presenter has their slides ready to
go.
4‘Thread’ questions into a communication
channel, for each presentation.
4Use a visible and audible timer and auto-
mute participants as they join.

Team Planning and Collaboration
4Started each breakout with a ‘team
huddle’ to plan the conversations we
need to have.
4Agree re-synchronization points to
come back together as a team
4Ensure that Key Stakeholders make
their calendars available so teams can
book time with them.
4Agreements may be put in place to
constrain time slots to 15 or 30 mins.

Maintaining Engagement During the Event
If the teams, or team members, are continuously having to communicate
via conference calls and the like, it can often get tiring and maintaining
focus can be a challenge.
4Insert short breaks during longer presentation
e.g. plan reviews.
4Shorten the length of the planning days.
4Determine a process for people to mark
themselves as busy.
4Organize optional fun activities.
4Create a theme for the event.
Meditation sessions
Meet the Kids
Meet the Pets
Charades
Open Mic Music
Quizzes

Continuous Feedback and Realignment
Being adaptable during a fully remote PI
Planning is critical for success.
4Consider an end of day survey to gather
feedback from the attendees.
4Adjust or add working agreements as needed
4Present the planning adjustments at the start
of each day.
4ROAM risks at the end of each day to help
identify collaborations that need to take place.
4Create an alignment across the facilitators by
running a SoS before the event each day.

Confidence Vote and Plan Rework
If possible, make sure that the whole ART is in
attendance. Everyone should have the ability to
‘stop the train’.
4For a fully distributed ART using an online
retrospective tool or an online poll works well.
4Allow time for anyone who voted 1 or 2 to
express their opinions.
4If planned rework is required, due to the time
zones this activity may need to be postponed to
the following day.
1 2 3 4 5
1
2
3
4
5

Relentless Improvement and Knowledge Sharing
4Get feedback from the attendees on the distributed
PI Planning experience.
4Ask each attendee to add their location as this can
help identify appropriate improvement actions.
4Create a ‘Facilitators Panel’ session to share
knowledge with others about to go through a fully
remote event.
‘Even though we were very good at PI Planning…we needed to create a
new baseline for improvement for remote PI Planning’
Facilitators Panel

Fully Remote PI Planning Further Guidance

Distributed PI Planning Guidance
4Advanced topic article on distributed PI
Planning
4Advanced topic article on working with
distributed Agile Teams
4Remote ART toolkit for SPCs containing
a Facilitators Guide to PI Planning
4Updated PI Planning Toolkit
4Videos sharing experiences

REMOTE WORK: ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Cprime Virtual Solutions: https://www.cprime.com/services/virtual-solutions/
Virtual Guides
• The Scrum Master’s Guide to Remote Delivery: https://www.cprime.com/resource/templates/the-scrum-masters-guide-to-
remote-delivery/
• The RTE’s Guide to Remote Delivery: https://www.cprime.com/resource/templates/rte-virtual-guide/
• The Product Manager’s Guide to Remote Delivery: https://www.cprime.com/resource/templates/the-product-managers-
guide-to-remote-delivery/
• Virtual PI Planning in 4 Days: https://www.cprime.com/resource/templates/virtual-pi-planning-in-4-days-infographic/
Video Demos
• Virtual Whiteboarding Example: https://www.cprime.com/resource/templates/virtual-white-boarding-example/
• Virtual/Remote Model for PI Planning Video Demo: https://www.cprime.com/resource/templates/virtual-remote-model-for-
program-increment-planning-demo/
• The Remote Scrum Master: Meeting Flow for Virtual Teams: https://www.cprime.com/resource/templates/the-remote-
scrum-master-meeting-flow-for-virtual-teams/

REMOTE WORK: ADDITIONAL RESOURCES cont.
Webinar on Demand:
• Think Agility: Empowering Your Remote Workforce: A Cprime Panel: https://www.cprime.com/resource/webinars/think-agility-
empowering-your-remote-workforce-a-cprime-panel/
Blogs
• Blog Series: Everything You Need to Know About Cprime's Remote Services:
• Part 1: Remote Coaching – Reasons and Challenges: https://www.cprime.com/2020/03/everything-you-need-to-
know-about-cprimes-remote-services-part-one/
• Part 2: Remote Coaching – Solutions and Tactics: https://www.cprime.com/2020/03/everything-you-need-to-know-
about-cprimes-remote-services-part-2/
• Part 3 Remote Training – Why and How: https://www.cprime.com/2020/03/everything-you-need-to-know-about-
cprimes-remote-services-part-3/
• Part 4: Myths Busted and Questions Answered: https://www.cprime.com/2020/04/everything-you-need-to-know-
about-cprime-remote-services-part-4/
• Agility in a Remote Environment: Top Tips for Scrum Masters: https://www.cprime.com/2020/04/agility-in-a-remote-
environment-top-tips-for-scrum-masters/
• Top 5 Slack Integrations for Business Value: https://www.cprime.com/2020/04/top-5-slack-integrations-for-business-
value/

KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING…
• Connect:
o Andrew Sales: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-sales/
o Mike Carew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-carew-0a0791/
• Check out Cprime upcoming webinars, read our blog,
download whitepapers/case studies & more:
o www.cprime.com/resources
• Share with us what topics you are interested in, ask us
questions or give us feedback!
o learn@cprime.com
• Follow us on Social Media, share in the conversation &
keep updated on thought leadership, events & more.

Remote Working in a SAFe Environment: Collaborative Online Meetings and Fully Distributed PI Planning

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Remote Working in a SAFe Environment: Collaborative Online Meetings and Fully Distributed PI Planning