SC-05
PI Scope Reduction — Items Removed Without Delivery
Scope Control
Default severity: medium
PrioritizationProcessRiskEffort
What it detects
Items committed in PI planning were removed from the PI scope without being completed — they were descoped, not delivered. Differentiates from completion: a removed item is only a scope reduction if it left the PI without Done status. pi_committed = issues WHERE pi_field = pi_id AT pi_planning_date current_pi = issues WHERE pi_field = pi_id NOW descoped = pi_committed - current_pi (set difference on issue keys)
Detection formula
FOR each descoped issue I: IF I.status NOT IN done_statuses THEN silent_descope = true descoped_sp = SUM(sp, silent_descopes) descoped_bv = SUM(bv, silent_descopes) IF COUNT(silent_descopes) > 0 THEN FLAG IF descoped_bv > 0 THEN CRITICAL (committed BV not delivered and not rescheduled)Examples in practice
- A team shows items committed in pi planning were removed from the pi scope without being completed during analysis.
- Example signal: Items committed in PI planning were removed from the PI scope without being completed — they were descoped, not delivered.
Suggested response
Gate sprint and PI scope changes with visible rationale and stable commitments.
Coaching playbook
Symptom
Items committed in PI planning were removed from the PI scope without being completed — they were descoped, not delivered. Differentiates from completion: a removed item is only a scope reduction if it left the PI without Done status. pi_committed = issues WHERE pi_field = pi_id AT pi_planning_date current_pi = issues WHERE pi_field = pi_id NOW descoped = pi_committed - current_pi (set difference on issue keys)
Why it matters
When "PI Scope Reduction — Items Removed Without Delivery" keeps appearing, the team is signalling a repeatable process gap. Left unexamined, the pattern hides where work really stalls and makes improvement metrics harder to trust.
What you can achieve
Gate sprint and PI scope changes with visible rationale and stable commitments.
Facilitation questions
- What system change would stop "PI Scope Reduction — Items Removed Without Delivery" from firing again?
- What do the cited issues have in common — same root cause or same workaround?
- Who owns the two-week experiment and how will we verify on the next import?
Run this rule against your own tracker data with Flow Analyzer.