Welcome to our guide, designed to introduce you to Kendis's essential features. We'll show you not just how Kendis operates but also how you can leverage Kendis boards to their fullest potential, especially for your PI Planning needs.
No matter if you're strictly adhering to SAFe, adapting it to fit your needs, or using a different framework altogether, certain core activities are crucial for successful PI/Quarterly Planning. This guide is designed to demystify these essential steps, ensuring you grasp their utility with simplicity and ease.
This guide is organized into the following key sections:
1.1: Features and Stories: Learn how to quickly prioritize, plan, and introduce new features and stories.
1.2: Dependencies Management: Learn how to handle Features/Stories dependencies across Teams.
1.3: ROAM Risks: Create and manage risks throughout your PI Planning process.
1.4: Objectives & Goals Setting: Define clear objectives and goals for your PI and Teams.
1.5: Board UI, Search, Filters, and Group by: Utilize filters and grouping to efficiently review and adjust your planning, ensuring nothing is overlooked.
Let's dive into each area to transform your planning process into a more structured, effective, and manageable approach.
1.1 Features and Stories
Kendis simplifies importing Features and associated User Stories from Azure DevOps for PI Planning. You can also create new user stories in Azure DevOps directly from Kendis as needed.
Your Kendis administrator has likely already imported the necessary features and stories (Product Backlog Items or PBIs) using an Azure DevOps query. To see which query was used, navigate to Edit Board Settings > Contents from the ALM tab in Kendis.
To quickly identify which features are associated with your team, use the "Group by" function and select AreaPath or another relevant criterion from the dropdown menu.
You can plan stories within each feature directly from Kendis or Azure DevOps.
Planning Stories within a Feature
Click on the numerical indicator at the bottom right corner of the feature card to view the associated stories.
Stories are categorized into three groups:
Planned: These stories are already scheduled in Iterations on the Kendis board.
Unplanned Open: Stories not yet scheduled in any Iteration on this PI board. If a story is earmarked for a future Iteration, it's considered "Unplanned" from Kendis's perspective, as it falls outside the current PI's Iterations.
Unplanned Done: Stories likely completed in previous PIs and may be less relevant for the current PI Planning.
The following three videos provide useful hints on how to create, filter, and group by features.
Group by & Filter Board items with an Eye icon
Create Sharable Filters with Multiple Search Criteria
Filter Features by Azure DevOps Team and AreaPath
Add New Features to Kendis Board
1.2 Dependencies Management
Dependencies signify that the completion of one task is contingent on the completion of another. While Azure DevOps represents dependencies merely as link types between items, such as "Predecessor" or "Successor," Kendis enhances this concept by visually depicting these relationships between cards with lines. Beyond just visual cues, Kendis adds valuable context to these dependencies. It identifies the teams involved, the sprints required for delivery, and details the specifics of the need through descriptions and various attributes, offering a detailed picture of how cards are interconnected.
Check out this video for a better grasp of these concepts.
Dependencies Listing View
Once dependencies are created in Kendis or in Azure DevOps, you may you use the "Dependencies" listing view available under the "More" menu to view the list, filter the list, and Group by the list for a better understanding.
Filters & Group by Dependencies for ADO Board
Advanced Videos → Group by options (creator/receiver) in dependencies (ADO)
Additional Readings about Dependencies
Visualize Team relationships with the Dependency Wheel: https://help.kendis.io/en/articles/4629166-visualize-team-relationships-with-the-dependency-wheel
Description of the dependency line colors: https://help.kendis.io/en/articles/5061394-description-of-the-dependency-line-colors
1.3: ROAM Risks
Risks are recorded in a Risk Register, which can be associated with one or several PI Boards. Linking a Risk Register to multiple Program Boards enables a distinctive feature: the ability to link cards (Features/Stories) from various Program Boards to a single risk. This facilitates effortless tracking of risks encountered by teams across different Release Trains or Programs.
Screenshot of creating a new Risk
Watch this video to discover how to create, edit, and filter risks.
Risks Matrix
For additional information on the Kendis Risks Matrix, visit:
1.4: Objectives & OKRS (Goals Settings)
Objectives are a great way to engage teams and stakeholders to set goals. Objectives in Kendis provide unique capabilities with automated progress tracking, eliminating the need for manual updates.
For detailed information, please refer to
An in-depth description of How Objectives work in Kendis: https://help.kendis.io/en/articles/8360803-how-to-use-objectives-for-program-board
How the % completion works for Objectives: https://help.kendis.io/en/articles/4634531-how-does-the-objectives-completion-percentage-work
1.5: Board UI, Search, Filters, and Group by
Using the Kendis Board is easy. You can find all the settings in "Board Settings" and the main features under "More." The "More" menu initially shows the six most relevant features for your current board. To see the rest of the features, just click "More" again.
Exploring Kendis Board Review Modes
"Kendis Boards initially display in 'Alicanto' view, named after a legendary bird, which visually represents the journey of a feature moving from one sprint to another based on User Stories. In essence, you'll see a feature card positioned within each sprint. However, for PI/Quarterly Planning reviews, if you're more interested in understanding the delivery timelines of Features, you might prefer switching to 'Phoenix' mode.
For a comprehensive understanding of Board Review Modes, refer to the detailed help guide: https://help.kendis.io/en/articles/2751187-board-review-modes
Additionally, a video explaining these board modes in detail can be found here:
Zooming Options for Your Board
If your board becomes crowded with multiple teams and features, Kendis offers options to adjust card sizes and zoom levels for better visibility. Discover how by watching
Other Reference Material