name: principle-sequence-verifiable-units description: "Apply to multi-step work. Break it into small units that each end in a check, and verify each before the next."

Sequence Verifiable Units

Order work as small units, each ending in a state you can check. Do not start the next until the current one is green.

Why: A break caught at the unit that caused it is cheap. A break caught after a batch is buried under later work.

Pattern:

• Pick the smallest unit that ends in a check: one edit plus its test, or one commit that stands alone.
• Known-good, one change, run the check, then proceed. Never batch-then-verify.
• Order delivery so the sequence proves itself: failing repro then fix; subtraction then reshape; baseline then treatment.
• Each commit lands on its own. The stack is an argument, not a dump.
• The check at each unit is real (principle-prove-it-works), not "it compiles".
• Rebase onto clean trunk first so every check measures against the real baseline.
• A unit that cannot end in a check is too large. Split it.