If you’re already familiar with ServiceNow’s Agile Development plugin, either in its typical installation or in the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) version, the upcoming Washington release brings a comprehensive and powerful update to the product, adding tangible value to a range of organisations. Seamlessly fitting into ServiceNow’s SPM suite, it’s your go-to for enabling fulfilment of work, whether you’re tackling projects head-on or juggling through stories in the backlog, owned by a Product Manager and delivered by agile teams working in sprints. 

ServiceNow’s Enterprise Agile Planning Update 

You might already know about ServiceNow’s transformative improvements to the strategic planning experiences through the delivery of the Strategic Planning Workspaces, and its younger brother, the Portfolio Planning Workspace. 

Despite the completeness of these solutions, it’s surprising that organisations employing Agile at scale across a number of teams have struggled to embrace ServiceNow’s new Strategic Planning Workspace for two main reasons. 

Existing Limitations 

Firstly, not all ServiceNow Agile Development users are equipped with SPM Professional licenses. You can get the ‘Agile Team’ product without having SPM Pro – in fact many customers originally got this for their ServiceNow Partner to handle the initial product delivery via Agile in their instance.  Some still stick to using it solely for ServiceNow development or not using it at all. Without SPM Pro licenses, you can only reach the Portfolio Planning Workspace, missing out on the Strategic Planning Workspace. Plus, your Portfolio Plans can only feature Projects and Demands. With a bit of careful tweaking, you could potentially incorporate other planning items into your free-form roadmaps, but still, it’s a no-go without the proper licensing. 

On another note, the Agile functionality within the Planning Workspace was regrettably limited. Your backlogs size, resource requirements or complexity simply weren’t adequately represented. Stories weren’t visible or presentable, and even Epics, once mapped through to planning items, were seemingly forced into a shape that was not their own. To build out Epics in the Strategic Planning Workspace, you had to input data not typically (or at least, not naturally) associated with them, such as proposed start and end dates. Skip these details and you’ll be left in the dark on Roadmaps, making planning within the workspace a bit of a guessing game. 

Enterprise Agile Planning in the Washington Release 

Now, with ServiceNow’s new Enterprise Agile Planning release, rolled out as part of the Washington Release, the game has changed seismically, and it’s happening right now. Stories, Backlogs, Agile Teams, Planning Interval Planning (think quarterly PI Planning SAFe models for Enterprise), and even Capabilities are all smoothly integrated into the workspace as Planning Items, free to operate the way they were intended.

Right at the forefront of the landing page, where your Portfolio Plans are centred, you’ll spot a shiny new ‘Enterprise Agile Planning’ button. Click on it and you’ll be hit with a wealth of information, just like diving headfirst into a pool of insights.  

Being able to break down your backlog by Epic or Capability, and really delve into the nitty-gritty of the work ahead put you in touch with the reality of your planning needs. Furthermore, thanks to ServiceNow’s scoring engine introduced in their Vancouver release, you’re empowered with more detailed insights, including scores based on one of the scoring framework. It’s a total game-changer when you compare it to just having data on the Epic record to evaluate. 

Enter the ‘Planning Board’ service, leveraging the powerful Kanban visualisations that have already proven their worth elsewhere in the Strategic Planning Workspace (yet another service absent in the ever increasingly overshadowed Standard version). It offers a quick glimpse into upcoming Epics, helping in prioritisation while revealing dependencies and story relationships in an intuitive way we’ve all grown accustomed to within the robust Workspace.

I’m loving how effortlessly you can configure the fields on the cards, and the range of available fields is incredibly straightforward and natural. You can really customise the Workspace to fit your exact needs, without breaking a sweat. 

I’m also delighted that ServiceNow has resisted the urge to transform the agile backlog into a roadmap based on dates. While Stories and Epics can align with sprints, which complement them with planned dates, as a veteran manager of an Agile teams, I’m glad that dates aren’t the focus at this stage, allowing my teams to plan work in truly agile manner without the burden of constantly adjusting dates at a planning level. 

Who should be using this?   

If your organisation operates under SAFe principles or has multiple Agile teams striving to sync with a PI Planning Structure, this tool is transformational. Aligning your Agile backlog within your Strategic Planning Workspace enables you to visualise, plan and triage the backlog effectively. You can also view your work in the same way you visualise your ongoing Project and Demand development, streamlining the entire delivery process.   

Whether you’re managing multiple Agile teams in software development for your own organisation, or offering it as a service, now is the time to embrace ServiceNow’s Strategic Planning as the primary interface for visualising upcoming work, recording successes and tracking delivered value.   

If you were using ServiceNow’s Agile Development in a more casual manner, perhaps for a few years already, ServiceNow’s Strategic Planning might just be the missing piece to assist you transition to the Enterprise Platform of Platforms. By making the switch to SPM, with just one license, you can simultaneously: 

• Adopt an intuitive Goal Management Framework to clearly articulate your organisation’s objectives  

• Set up intuitive Idea pages to capture concepts that drive those objectives 

• Evaluate investment opportunities using comprehensive Demand records 

• Plan for success with Agile, Waterfall, or Hybrid project management and delivery tools 

• Monitor and document your success through dynamic visualisations in the Strategic Planning Workspace 

Need a hand navigating this one-stop solution? Coming from the client-side, we’re committed to more than just keep your platform running. We’re dedicated to fuelling your long-term success with proven ServiceNow expertise. Let’s chat and discover how we can simplify your business journey together.