What should be established during PI Planning to ensure alignment across teams?

During PI Planning, establishing a shared mission and objectives is crucial for ensuring alignment across teams. This shared mission acts as a guiding star for all teams involved in the program increment (PI), aligning their efforts towards common goals that support the overall business objectives. When teams understand the collective mission and what they aim to achieve, they can collaborate more effectively, prioritize their work in alignment with the objectives, and make more informed decisions throughout the increment.

Having this alignment through a shared mission fosters a sense of purpose and unity among the teams, which is essential in a scaled Agile environment where multiple teams are working concurrently. This approach enables teams to identify dependencies more clearly and understand how their contributions fit into the larger picture, thus improving productivity and cohesion.

While establishing individual team goals may help focus efforts within a team, it may not necessarily promote alignment across the broader group of teams. Similarly, detailed task assignments could lead to micromanagement and diminish the autonomy of the teams, which goes against Agile principles. A common tool for tracking progress could enhance transparency, but without a shared mission and objectives, it might not be effective in fostering true alignment.