| 1 | --- |
| 2 | name: principle-sequence-verifiable-units |
| 3 | description: "Apply to multi-step work (sweeps, migrations, runs of similar edits) and to how you stack commits and PRs. Break work into small units that each end in a verifiable state, check each before the next, and order delivery so the sequence proves itself to a reviewer." |
| 4 | disable-model-invocation: true |
| 5 | --- |
| 6 | |
| 7 | # Sequence work into verifiable units |
| 8 | |
| 9 | Order work as a sequence of small units, each ending in a state you can check, and don't advance until the current one is green. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | **Why:** A break caught at the unit that caused it is cheap to localize. A break caught after a batch is buried, and you have already built further on a broken base. Sequencing those same units into a delivery a reviewer can replay turns "trust me" into "watch it go red, then green." |
| 12 | |
| 13 | **Execution.** In a sweep, migration, or any run of similar edits, verify each change before starting the next. Each unit is a before/after bracket: known-good state, one change, run the check, then proceed. Rebase onto clean trunk first so every check measures against the real baseline. When a lever does the edits, the per-unit check is nearly free. Run it anyway. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | **Delivery.** Stack commits and PRs in the order that proves the work. The canonical shape is the failing test first, then the fix on top. Other story orders are a subtraction before the reshape, a baseline capture before the treatment, the scaffold before the feature. Each commit lands on its own and the sequence reads as an argument. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | The sequencing complement to the **prove-it-works** principle skill, which keeps each check real, and the |