Skip to main content

Plan Work in Digital.ai Agility

Who plans work in Agility: Portfolio managers define strategic direction and allocate budgets. Product owners prioritize product backlogs and plan releases. Scrum masters facilitate sprint planning and coordinate team capacity. Team members break down stories into tasks and commit to sprint work.

Digital.ai Agility provides planning capabilities across all levels of your organization, from strategic portfolio planning to detailed sprint execution. Teams can plan work that aligns with business objectives, delivers value to customers, and optimizes capacity.

Planning Levels​

Portfolio Planning​

Define strategic direction, manage investments, and track high-level initiatives across your organization.

  • Portfolio items: Break down large features into deliverable components
  • Portfolio Tree: Visualize and manage feature hierarchies
  • Portfolio Kanban: Track portfolio items through workflow states
  • Roadmapping: Communicate delivery timelines to stakeholders
  • Budgets: Allocate resources and track spending against strategic themes
  • Milestones: Mark important delivery targets and deadlines
  • Team forecasting: Understand capacity and forecast delivery dates
Edition

Portfolio planning features including Portfolio Tree, Roadmapping, and Budget tracking are available in Premium edition. Contact your administrator to verify your edition level.

For details, see Portfolio Planning.

Product Planning​

Organize and prioritize your product backlog to deliver maximum business value.

  • Backlog management: Create, organize, and prioritize stories and defects
  • Story breakdown: Decompose work into manageable pieces
  • Acceptance criteria: Define clear completion standards with tests
  • Dependencies: Identify and manage cross-team dependencies
  • Backlog goals: Group work around objectives for focused delivery
  • Backlog groups: Organize stories into flexible hierarchies
  • Prioritization: Rank work by value, risk, and strategic alignment

For details, see Product Planning.

Increment Planning​

Plan and prepare for program increments or releases by scheduling work, planning capacity, and balancing team assignments.

  • Increment scheduling: Decide what work to include in each increment
  • Capacity planning: Identify bottlenecks and commit to achievable work
  • Team assignments: Balance workload across multiple teams
  • Regression planning: Plan testing coverage for each release
  • Progress tracking: Monitor increment health with real-time metrics
  • Increment reports: Analyze progress and optimize strategy

For details, see Plan and Prepare Increments.

Sprint Planning​

Plan sprint work based on team capacity, break down stories into tasks, and commit to achievable sprint goals.

  • Sprint scheduling: Create and configure sprint or iteration schedules
  • Capacity planning: Plan team and member capacity for sprints
  • Story breakdown: Decompose stories into tasks and tests
  • Task assignment: Distribute work across team members
  • Sprint commitment: Agree on achievable sprint goals
  • Detail planning: Plan work at the task level with effort estimates

For details, see Sprint or Iteration Planning.

Planning Tools​

PlanningRooms​

Collaborate with distributed teams during planning sessions using PlanningRooms.

  • Virtual planning spaces: Support remote and hybrid planning events
  • Real-time collaboration: Work together regardless of location
  • PI Planning support: Facilitate program increment planning for SAFe
  • Customizable views: Configure boards and panels for your planning process

For details, see PlanningRooms.

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)​

Align work with business objectives using OKRs to drive strategic outcomes.

  • Objective setting: Define measurable business goals
  • Key results: Track progress toward objectives
  • Work alignment: Connect backlog items to OKRs
  • Progress tracking: Monitor OKR completion across the organization
  • Analytics integration: Push OKR data to data lake for reporting
Edition

OKRs require Agility Pro or Premium edition. Contact your administrator to verify your edition level and ensure OKR features are enabled.

For details, see Analytics in OKRs.

Planning Workflows​

Strategic to Tactical Planning​

Connect strategic initiatives to team execution:

  1. Define strategic themes: Establish business priorities and investment areas.
  2. Create portfolio items: Break down strategic themes into large features.
  3. Build product backlog: Decompose portfolio items into deliverable stories.
  4. Schedule increments: Assign work to program increments or releases.
  5. Plan sprints: Commit to sprint work based on team capacity.
  6. Execute and track: Deliver work and monitor progress at all levels.

Agile Planning Ceremonies​

Support standard agile planning rituals:

  • Backlog grooming: Refine and estimate upcoming work
  • Release planning: Commit to release scope and timeline
  • PI Planning: Coordinate program increment work across teams (SAFe)
  • Sprint planning: Commit to sprint work and create task breakdowns
  • Daily planning: Adjust daily work based on progress and blockers

Capacity-Based Planning​

Optimize planning using capacity data:

  • Velocity tracking: Use historical velocity for future planning
  • Capacity constraints: Respect team availability and holidays
  • Load balancing: Distribute work evenly across teams and sprints
  • Forecasting: Predict completion dates based on velocity trends
  • Risk identification: Spot overcommitment early in planning

Planning Best Practices​

Start with Why​

  • Align all work to strategic business objectives
  • Use OKRs to clarify desired outcomes
  • Ensure every portfolio item connects to strategic themes
  • Communicate the business value of planned work

Plan Incrementally​

  • Begin with high-level portfolio planning
  • Refine detail as work approaches execution
  • Avoid over-planning work far in the future
  • Adjust plans based on learning and feedback

Respect Capacity​

  • Plan based on demonstrated team velocity
  • Account for holidays, vacations, and other constraints
  • Leave buffer capacity for unplanned work
  • Adjust commitments when capacity changes

Collaborate Continuously​

  • Involve the right people in planning decisions
  • Use PlanningRooms for distributed planning sessions
  • Share roadmaps and plans with stakeholders
  • Review and adjust plans regularly

Track and Adapt​

  • Monitor progress against plans at all levels
  • Use reports to identify risks and bottlenecks early
  • Adjust plans based on actual delivery rates
  • Learn from past planning accuracy to improve future plans

Troubleshooting​

Why can't I see portfolio planning features?

Portfolio planning capabilities may require specific edition levels or permissions. Portfolio Tree and roadmapping are typically available in Premium edition. Contact your administrator to verify your edition and access permissions.

Why don't my capacity calculations match expected velocity?

Capacity planning accounts for holidays, vacations, and other time off. Verify team member availability settings in capacity planning pages. Ensure velocity calculations use consistent sprint lengths and completed story points.

Why can't team members see work assigned to them?

Team members need read access to projects containing their work. Verify project membership and role assignments. Check that work items are properly assigned in the Owners field.