PI Planning is supposed to be the engine that powers alignment, collaboration, and delivery in SAFe organizations. But let’s be honest: most Agile practitioners have seen PI Planning go off track, sometimes in predictable ways. When teams fall into anti-patterns—repeating old mistakes, shutting down ideas, or just ticking boxes—the whole point of PI Planning gets lost.

What actually works? It’s not just following the agenda or pushing through all the planned features. The real game-changer is adopting a discovery mindset. That’s how you turn rigid, routine PIs into living, breathing sessions where teams solve problems, adapt, and actually deliver value.

Let’s break down the most common anti-patterns and get specific about how a discovery mindset changes the game.

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1. Anti-Pattern: Treating PI Planning Like a Waterfall Project Plan

A classic anti-pattern is when PI Planning turns into a “commitment ceremony.” Teams get caught up in making sure every story is perfectly broken down, estimated, and locked in. Before you know it, everyone’s arguing over points and story details, and the whole event feels more like Gantt chart theater than real Agile planning.

Discovery Mindset Shift

Stop chasing perfect plans. Encourage teams to embrace uncertainty and validate assumptions. Instead of filling every minute with detailed breakdowns, leave intentional space for learning. Use the first part of PI Planning to outline what you know and what you don’t know. Prioritize spikes and research items that reduce uncertainty in the first iteration.

• Practical move: Frame the first sprint of the PI as a discovery sprint if the roadmap has big unknowns.

• Tip: Facilitate sessions using techniques from the Leading SAFe Agilist Certification Training to help leaders coach teams out of waterfall thinking.

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2. Anti-Pattern: Stakeholder-Driven Planning That Silences Teams

Here’s what happens: stakeholders or leadership come in with fixed objectives and “must-do” features. Teams become passive, nodding along even when the plan feels unrealistic. Feedback from the people doing the work gets sidelined, and the PI plan reflects top-down wishes, not actual capacity or ground realities.

Discovery Mindset Shift

Create a space where questions and pushback are encouraged. Shift the focus from “How do we fit all of this in?” to “What needs validation?” Bring teams and stakeholders together to explore assumptions and constraints, not just to allocate work. Use techniques like assumption mapping or hypothesis-driven planning.

• Practical move: Invite product managers to ask, “What could go wrong?” and “What do we need to learn early?”

• Tip: Encourage product owners and managers to get SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM) Certification to master collaborative planning and discovery skills.

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3. Anti-Pattern: Ignoring Cross-Team Dependencies

Dependencies are inevitable in large organizations. The anti-pattern is pretending they don’t exist—or, worse, creating a “dependency board” just for show. Teams raise risks but there’s no real action or follow-through, and critical paths fall apart mid-PI.

Discovery Mindset Shift

Dependencies should become visible, tracked, and actively resolved—not just discussed. Encourage teams to treat every dependency as a learning opportunity. Who else needs to be involved? What do we need to clarify before work begins? Discovery is ongoing, not just a checkbox during the draft plan review.

• Practical move: Start the PI with dependency mapping, then re-check mid-PI.

• Tip: Scrum Masters play a huge role here. SAFe Scrum Master Certification goes deep into facilitating effective collaboration and managing dependencies.

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4. Anti-Pattern: Sprint Commitment Over Customer Value

Too often, PI Planning becomes about teams “hitting their numbers”—velocity, story points, planned vs actual. There’s little discussion of customer impact or adaptability if things change. The team’s main concern is not failing to deliver, even if the work no longer delivers value.

Discovery Mindset Shift

Shift the focus from “How much can we promise?” to “How do we maximize value and learning?” Encourage teams to define outcomes, not just outputs. What customer problem are we solving this PI? What feedback loops can we create early? Discovery-driven teams design their plans to gather feedback fast, even if that means adjusting or dropping work mid-PI.

• Practical move: Build in customer demos, fast feedback, and direct engagement points into the PI objectives.

• Tip: The SAFe Advanced Scrum Master Certification Training dives into value-driven facilitation and improvement.

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5. Anti-Pattern: Retrospectives With No Teeth

It’s easy for PI retrospectives to become a formality. People talk about what went wrong, but there’s no follow-through. Same issues come up next PI, and improvement feels stuck on repeat.

Discovery Mindset Shift

Approach the retrospective as a continuous discovery session, not just a review. Ask, “What experiments can we run next PI?” Set up improvement actions as hypotheses, then check the impact at the next PI Planning. Make change a habit, not an event.

• Practical move: Use Inspect & Adapt workshops to formalize experimentation and learning cycles.

• Tip: Release Train Engineers with SAFe Release Train Engineer Certification Training are trained to drive meaningful, data-driven improvement.

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6. Anti-Pattern: Focusing Only on Execution, Not Learning

Organizations sometimes treat PI Planning as a tool for execution tracking, ignoring its potential as a forum for alignment and shared learning. The event becomes transactional—plan, execute, repeat—without pausing to discover new opportunities or threats.

Discovery Mindset Shift

Treat PI Planning as a checkpoint for shared learning. Bring in metrics, stories from the last PI, and customer data. Ask: What surprised us last time? What do we need to learn this PI to get better? Anchor the conversation in curiosity, not just compliance.

• Practical move: Start every PI Planning with “What did we learn?” and “What will we try differently?”

• Tip: Find more strategies for embedding continuous improvement and learning in this external article on fostering a discovery mindset in Agile teams.

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Making the Shift: Steps to Embed Discovery in PI Planning

Let’s get practical. If you want to transform your PI Planning from a box-ticking exercise into a dynamic, discovery-driven event:

1. Reframe the Purpose: Kick off every PI Planning by sharing learning goals alongside delivery goals.

2. Empower Questioning: Normalize saying “I don’t know yet” and asking “What’s the riskiest part of this plan?”

3. Facilitate Real Conversations: Use breakout sessions and mixed teams to surface unknowns, not just assign work.

4. Make Learning Visible: Track what you’ve learned each PI and what’s still unknown. Put learning items on the board, not just features.

5. Close the Loop: Circle back every PI to check which hypotheses or improvements actually worked.

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Wrapping Up

A discovery mindset isn’t just Agile jargon. It’s how teams avoid sleepwalking through PI Planning and unlock the real value of these sessions—collaboration, problem-solving, and relentless improvement.
Yes, structure matters. But the magic happens when teams use that structure to explore, challenge, and adapt, not just follow a script.

If you want your teams to thrive in PI Planning, train them not just in the SAFe basics but in the skills of facilitation, systems thinking, and discovery. Point them toward certifications like Leading SAFe Agilist, SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM), SAFe Scrum Master, SAFe Advanced Scrum Master, and SAFe Release Train Engineer to deepen these skills.

For more on the discovery mindset, check out this practical external guide to discovery habits for Agile teams.

Real PI Planning isn’t about getting through the agenda—it’s about building teams that learn, adapt, and deliver real results.
That’s where the discovery mindset pays off.

 

Also read - Tips For Visualizing Features During PI Planning

Also see - Using The Five Sticky Rule To Guide Pre PI Planning Readiness