SAFe

Events & Ceremonies

Deep dives into every SAFe event. Explore facilitation techniques, ownership, preparation checklists, tips, and expected outcomes.

2 days

PI Planning

The signature event

PI Planning is the signature event of SAFe — a 2-day face-to-face (or virtual) working session where all ART members (50–125+ people) align on a shared vision, identify dependencies, negotiate scope, and commit to PI Objectives. It produces an alignment that cannot be achieved through documents, status meetings, or email.

6 techniques5 participants6 tips
1–2 hours per iteration

System Demo

Integrated increment review

The System Demo occurs every iteration and demonstrates the integrated, working increment from all teams on the ART. It provides stakeholders with an objective measure of progress and generates feedback that can influence backlog priorities.

3 techniques4 participants4 tips
3–4 hours

Inspect & Adapt

PI-level improvement

Inspect & Adapt (I&A) is a significant event at the end of each PI where the ART demos the full PI increment, reviews quantitative and qualitative results, and conducts a structured problem-solving workshop to identify and commit to improvements for the next PI.

4 techniques4 participants5 tips
30–60 min each

ART Sync Events

Weekly coordination

ART Sync events are weekly coordination meetings that keep the train aligned between PI Planning events. They include Coach Sync (SM/TC alignment), PO Sync (scope and priority alignment), and ART Sync (combined or cross-functional coordination).

3 techniques3 participants4 tips
Varies (see details)

Iteration Events

Team-level ceremonies

Iteration events are the team-level ceremonies within each 2-week iteration: Iteration Planning, Daily Stand-up, Iteration Review, and Iteration Retrospective. These mirror Scrum events but operate within the ART’s PI cadence.

4 techniques4 participants5 tips