Iteration: Planning

Mia frowned. “How do we measure?”

“We measure by finishing,” Priya said. “Pick three things. Just three. Not the biggest three. The three that actually unblock the rest.” iteration planning

No one said anything. Everyone had learned that pointing out math was seen as “resistance.” Mia frowned

Leo stared at the board. Twenty-seven points. Eight developers. Two weeks. He could already feel the Sunday night anxiety creeping in, the Slack messages at 10 p.m., the quiet apologies at the next retro about “overcommitment.” Just three

Leo smiled. Twenty-seven points was a wish. Three stories was a plan. And for the first time, the Sunday night before a sprint, he didn’t check Slack once.

Leo nodded. That was a real problem. But so was the memory leak in the reporting engine. And the new compliance field. And the thing no one wanted to talk about: the gnarly refactor they’d been postponing for four sprints.

“Let’s try something,” she said. “No points.”