The #Innovation and #PlanningIteration occurs every #ProgramIncrement and serves multiple purposes. It acts as an estimating buffer for meeting #PIobjectives and sets aside dedicated time for innovation, continuing education, #PIPlanning, And #Inspect and #Adapt (I&A) #Events. This is a #SAFe artifact, and so it has a strong focus on consistent, #continuousdelivery of value to customers.

The #IPIteration provides a time for teams to work together on activities that would normally be difficult to work into a #continuousdelivery model-- it helps cover the bases possibly missed initially, allowing the teams to meet their #goals for that #increment. Things that may be covered in the #IPIteration are:

Time for#innovation and #exploration, beyond the #iterations dedicated to the #delivery

work on technical infrastructure, tooling, and other impediments to #delivery

education to support #continuouslearning and #improvement

#CrossTraining to #develop skills in #NewDomains, #DevelopmentLanguages, And #Systems

dedicated time for the #Inspect & #Adapt (I&A) #event, #backlogrefinement, including final prioritization of features using #WeightedShortestJobFirst (#WSJF), and #PIplanning.

Final #Integration Of The #Solution, Including #Verification And #Validation, If Releasing On The #PIBoundary

Final user acceptance testing and documentation, and any other readiness activities that are not feasible or economical to perform every #iteration.

#IPIterations allow teams to predict #PIperformance with greater accuracy, providing an estimating buffer for meeting these #objectives. They are immensely important to art efficiency, speed, and quality, as a chance to refresh themselves and re-evaluate, as well as making adjustments that have been sorely needed. There are a few critical qualities of these #IPIterations. These can be:

#RESEARCH AND #DESIGN-

One of the pillars of the #SAFe #LeanAgileMindset is innovation, but actually having the time to #create and #develop new ideas may seem impossible between the #constantdelivery dates. This issue is one that #IPiterations seek to solve, giving teams an opportunity to facilitate #research and #design activities.

#PLANNING-

#PIPlanning, as well as I&A #Planning, typically occur during the #IPIteration. There are many different benefits to hosting the #plannings during this, namely the regularity it provides, as well as keeping the flow of work from being interrupted. They can be scheduled far in advance, allowing for greater overall flexibility.

#PISYSTEMDEMO -

The #PISystemDemo occurs at the end of each #PI. It integrates the work of all teams on the #AgileReleaseTrain and presents it in a staging environment, reproducing production as accurately as possible. The purpose of this demo is to demonstrate the accumulation of features and capabilities that have been developed over the course of the #PI.