Enablers in SAFe PI Planning: What to Include and How

Blog Author

Siddharth

Published

27 Jun, 2025

Program Increment (PI) Planning is the backbone of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®). It brings teams together to align on business goals, synchronize delivery, and commit to a shared plan. Yet, successful PI Planning isn’t just about building new features. It’s about setting up the architectural and technical foundation that supports future development. That’s where enablers come in.

Enablers play a crucial role during PI Planning, but many teams overlook them or treat them as an afterthought. Let’s explore what enablers are, why they’re essential, what you should include in your PI Planning session, and how to handle them effectively—without slipping into technical debt or derailing business outcomes.

What Are Enablers in SAFe?

Enablers are backlog items that support the activities needed to extend the Architectural Runway, explore technical options, or ensure compliance and infrastructure readiness. They aren’t user-facing features, but they’re essential for building the capability to deliver business value at scale. You’ll typically see enablers classified as:

Architectural Enablers: Support future feature development, like updating frameworks, refactoring, or infrastructure changes.
Exploration Enablers: Support research, prototyping, or evaluating new technologies.
Compliance Enablers: Ensure solutions meet regulations or security standards.
Infrastructure Enablers: Address environments, pipelines, and tools needed for continuous delivery.

Why Include Enablers in PI Planning?

Ignoring enablers during PI Planning often results in bottlenecks, rushed technical decisions, and higher risk for rework. When you embed enablers into the planning process, you:

Reduce Technical Debt: Teams proactively address architectural gaps.
Boost Predictability: You avoid surprise roadblocks later in the PI.
Foster Innovation: Teams carve out time for research and technical spikes.
Enable Business Agility: You create a sustainable pace for ongoing value delivery.

The Leading SAFe Agilist Certification Training program covers how leaders and teams should approach balancing enablers and features to achieve long-term agility.

What Types of Enablers Should Go Into PI Planning?

Let’s break down the types of enablers you should consider for each PI Planning session:

1. Architectural Enablers

These focus on building or extending the “Architectural Runway.” Examples include:

Upgrading frameworks, libraries, or platforms.
Refactoring legacy code to support new features.
Setting up security protocols for anticipated product requirements.

Teams with members holding the SAFe Advanced Scrum Master Certification are often better equipped to identify and prioritize architectural enablers, given their deep understanding of system thinking and Lean-Agile leadership.

2. Exploration Enablers

When you need to explore new technologies, try out technical approaches, or validate architectural decisions, exploration enablers help. Typical items:

Building proof-of-concepts or prototypes.
Spikes to evaluate cloud migration or AI integration.
User research to validate technical feasibility.

Exploration enablers should have a clear hypothesis and a plan for what decisions or learnings you expect from the work.

3. Infrastructure Enablers

Infrastructure work ensures you can build, test, and deliver features continuously. During PI Planning, include:

CI/CD pipeline improvements.
Test automation framework updates.
Cloud environment setup or scaling.

Teams led by certified SAFe Scrum Masters often drive the identification of such enablers, ensuring that infrastructure keeps up with business demands.

4. Compliance Enablers

If your organization operates in regulated domains (finance, healthcare, etc.), compliance enablers are critical. Examples:

Implementing data privacy protocols.
Security assessments or audits.
Documentation for regulatory submissions.

Incorporating compliance enablers early prevents last-minute firefighting and helps satisfy both business and regulatory needs.

How to Identify and Write Enabler Stories for PI Planning

Here’s how high-performing Agile Release Trains (ARTs) approach this:

Start with Vision and Roadmap

Before PI Planning, the Product Manager and System Architect work together to review the solution roadmap and architectural vision. Any technical or architectural gaps that could impact delivery should be discussed.

Collaborate Across Roles

Product Owners and Product Managers—with certification such as the SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM)—work with architects and engineering leads to surface enabler needs.
System Architects/Engineers identify architectural runway extensions.
Scrum Masters facilitate team-level refinement of enabler stories.

Write Clear, Outcome-Oriented Enabler Stories

An effective enabler story should answer:

Why is this work needed? (Connect to business value or technical necessity.)
What’s the acceptance criteria? (Define “done” so it’s testable.)
Who will benefit? (Internal teams, end-users, compliance, etc.)

Example:

Title: Upgrade Test Automation Framework to Support Mobile Platforms
Description: Our current test framework does not support mobile app automation, which is a blocker for the upcoming mobile feature release. This enabler will upgrade the framework and ensure mobile test cases are automated.
Acceptance Criteria: Mobile app test cases run successfully in CI/CD pipeline, results visible in reporting dashboard.

For more tips on writing enabler stories, see this Scaled Agile resource on enablers.

Including Enablers in the Program Backlog

The Program Backlog should be a healthy mix of business features and enablers. The percentage varies based on context, but neglecting enablers quickly leads to increased risk and technical debt.

The Release Train Engineer (RTE)—often certified via the SAFe Release Train Engineer Certification Training—plays a key role in ensuring enablers are visible and prioritized alongside features.

Example Program Backlog Breakdown

Backlog Item	Type	Why It Matters
New User Profile Feature	Feature	Delivers business value
Upgrade Authentication Library	Enabler (Arch)	Removes security risk for upcoming features
Prototype Voice Search	Enabler (Exp)	Explores AI capability for next release
Set Up Performance Monitoring	Enabler (Infra)	Supports system reliability for customers
Implement Data Privacy Module	Enabler (Comp)	Ensures regulatory compliance

Facilitating PI Planning: How to Make Enablers Count

Here’s how to make sure enablers aren’t forgotten during PI Planning:

1. Prepare Enablers Before PI Planning

Enablers should be refined and sized before PI Planning, just like features. Avoid vague, open-ended “spikes.” Every enabler needs a hypothesis, definition of done, and measurable outcome.

2. Discuss Enablers in Breakouts

During team breakouts, encourage teams to challenge, size, and commit to enabler stories just like any other backlog item. Don’t let them fall through the cracks.

3. Visualize Dependencies

Many enablers create dependencies between teams. Use dependency boards or digital tools to highlight which enablers must be completed for features to progress.

4. Track Progress and Demo Outcomes

Enabler work should be demoed and tracked throughout the PI. Even if the result is “learning” or a decision rather than a new feature, share the outcome at the System Demo.

Best Practices for Including Enablers in PI Planning

Limit Work in Progress (WIP): Avoid overloading the team with too many enablers in a single PI. Focus on those essential for the next set of features.
Align on Value: Make sure all enablers are connected to business outcomes or risk reduction.
Use Metrics: Track technical debt and architectural runway progress. Tools like Jira Align or VersionOne can help.
Review and Adapt: During the Inspect & Adapt workshop, revisit how enabler work impacted delivery and what needs to change for the next PI.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Treating Enablers as “Nice to Have”: This mindset causes technical debt to spiral.
Poorly Defined Enablers: Vague acceptance criteria lead to unfinished work.
Ignoring Dependencies: If enabler dependencies aren’t visualized, teams risk misalignment and blocked features.
Overlooking Compliance Needs: Waiting until the end to address compliance can derail release plans.

Building Enabler Awareness Across Teams

Building a culture that values enablers is not just the architect’s job. It requires training, coaching, and ongoing conversations across the organization.

Many teams benefit from SAFe Scrum Master Certification and SAFe Advanced Scrum Master Certification courses to learn practical ways to manage enabler flow and facilitate architectural discussions in their day-to-day work.

Conclusion

Enablers are the backbone of sustainable Agile development in SAFe. Including the right enablers in your PI Planning helps teams reduce technical debt, innovate safely, and deliver real business value, not just for the current increment, but for the future as well. Take the time to identify, refine, and prioritize enablers with the same rigor you apply to features. You’ll build more resilient systems—and happier teams.

For further learning on balancing enablers with features and driving business agility, explore the official SAFe PI Planning article and consider professional growth through Leading SAFe Agilist Certification Training or SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager POPM Certification.

Also Read - Bringing Technical Debt to Light with Enabler Stories in SAFe

Also see - Using Enablers to Support Continuous Delivery Pipelines