SCALED AGILE

1. Why should we care about PI Objectives and how do we write them to quantify business value? Why do we want to quantify business value? Easy question but sometimes hard to put in words. Effectively quantifying the business value invites conversations between IT and business. It also encourages learning and facilitates trade off decisions in approach. Yet, most importantly, it enables a key Agile Metric --- Program Predictability. Program Predictability is a way to measure an ART’s ability to plan and execute against plans. It brings central continuous improvement and builds trust across the train and teams. PI Objectives drive Program Predictability. The focus of PI Objectives is to: Align on Value – when a team can, in plain language, describe the value the organization hopes to achieve by completing these features, it elevates the team above the “requirements” and the features drives them toward a shared purpose. Focus on Outcomes – focusing on outcomes frees the team up to think creatively about a resolution, rather than #productowner executing the orders as written in the feature. Finishing the feature is not the goal. Users don’t want a ¼ drill, they want a ¼ hole. Measure Success – even on the most tightly knit trains, teams tend to focus on their own features. Choose 5-7 key measures of success against the objectives that can help the train stay on track and inform any mid-PI plan adjustments as necessary. PI Objectives should be part of the planning process and demonstrate evolution of the work. Remember focus on outcomes. Finishing the feature shouldn’t be the goal. How to write PI Objectives PI objectives should be SMART! To write SMART PI Objectives be sure to include: 1st Action – What is the action you are doing? Use a verb 2nd What - What is the thing being acted on? Use a noun 3rd Who – Who is the audience that you are delivering this awesome value to? 4th User Value – What is the benefit to the user? 5th Business Value – What is the benefit to the business overall? Effective PI Objective Examples Improve the Primary Care Physician (PCP) selection on the member portal for the member so that they can easily select their PCP thereby reducing calls to the Call Center by 20 percent. Create robust QA Database so that teams can accomplish e2e testing in 25% less time and reduce live site defects by 30%.

2. In a nutshell, PI Objectives are a key element to understanding and focusing on the important stuff. They help focus alignment on outcomes rather than process and summarize data into meaningful and steerable information. By doing so, ARTs can create a shared understanding of what Business Value means to the business.