Ways of Working
A scaled delivery organization coordinates through rhythm, not through management overhead. Every level has its own cadence — a set of recurring events and forums that make work, decisions, and dependencies visible on a predictable schedule. The system works because these cadences are synchronized: the sprint cadence at team level nests inside the PI cadence at DVS level, which aligns with the strategic review cadence at portfolio level.
This section describes the practices that operate at each level and how they connect.
Three Levels, Three Cadences
At team level, the sprint is the primary unit of work. Teams plan, deliver, review, and reflect in a repeating cycle of one to two weeks. The sprint ceremonies — Sprint Planning, Daily Standup, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective — give the team a closed improvement loop that operates continuously.
At DVS level, the Program Increment (PI) structures delivery across all teams in a value stream over 8–12 weeks. PI Planning synchronizes teams at the start of each PI. Scrum of Scrums, PO Sync, and cross-team technical forums maintain coordination within it. The System Demo and Inspect & Adapt close the loop at PI boundaries.
At portfolio level, governance operates on a strategic cadence — periodic Strategic Portfolio Reviews aligned to PI boundaries, supported by lighter Portfolio Syncs between them. The Portfolio Kanban runs continuously beneath these forums, moving initiatives through analysis, approval, and delivery.
How the Cadences Connect
The three cadences are not independent. They are designed to fit together.
Sprints are synchronized within a PI: all teams in a DVS run sprints of the same length, starting and ending together. This makes cross-team planning and integration predictable. The PI boundary is a natural handoff point between levels: portfolio decisions about what to fund next are informed by what the DVS delivered in the previous PI.
The Value Stream Owner is the structural connection between portfolio and DVS levels — participating in portfolio governance while remaining connected to DVS delivery. The Product Owner is the structural connection between DVS and team — participating in DVS-level PO Sync while owning the team backlog.
Cadences are synchronized vertically — sprint boundaries nest inside PI boundaries, PI boundaries align with portfolio review cadence.
Recurring Patterns
Looking across the three levels, certain patterns appear at each one. They are not identical — the timescale, participants, and stakes differ significantly — but the underlying purpose is the same.
Planning happens at every level: Sprint Planning commits the team for one sprint, PI Planning commits the DVS for one PI, and Strategic Portfolio Review sequences what gets funded for the coming period. Each is a commitment event at its respective scale.
Review and demonstration happens at every level: the Sprint Review shows stakeholders what the team built, the System Demo shows what the DVS integrated, and the Strategic Portfolio Review assesses whether the portfolio’s investments are producing the expected outcomes. Each closes a feedback loop.
Retrospection and improvement happens at every level: the Sprint Retrospective improves team practices, Inspect & Adapt improves DVS-level delivery, and the portfolio review cycle adjusts investment decisions based on what has been learned.
Prioritization is active at every level: the Product Owner continuously orders the team backlog, the product management network maintains DVS feature sequencing, and the portfolio management function sequences initiatives against value stream capacity.
These patterns are candidates for deeper cross-level treatment as the ASP content matures. For now, each is described in the context of the level where it operates most visibly.
What This Section Covers
- Portfolio Ways of Working — the governance cadence, investment decisions, and strategic reviews at portfolio level
- DVS Ways of Working — the PI cadence, coordination forums, and prioritization at value stream level
- PI Planning — the full format, preparation, outputs, and failure modes of PI Planning
- Team Ways of Working — the sprint cadence and ceremonies at team level