The Creation Mandate gave us two imperatives to the first entity he created, the family:

• Make order from chaos
• Be fruitful and multiply

This all happened before the fall– before sin entered into the world. That means that the Earth needed order, and Adam and Eve and their descendants had a job to do. After the fall, these things would be more difficult, as every part of their tasks was touched by the fall.

Making order out of chaos would be more difficult because the ground was cursed. It would need more work to bring forth fruit, and the animals would now be fierce and present possible threats. For the woman, bearing children would now be painful. For both of them, they would now be at odds with each other instead of cooperating with each other.

One Flesh

In the middle of this, Adam makes another statement– that a man should leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife. The two would become one flesh. Does that mean that we should always be forming new family units and pushing people out of their families?

If it did, then generations of Israelites got it wrong!

The Bible records that people lived lives together in family groups– to the point that God had to separate family groups at the Tower of Babel. Even after, multigenerational family structures were the norm. Jesus, on the cross, still had some responsibility to care for his mother– he made sure to transfer that responsibility to John the apostle. Paul states in the New Testament that anyone not taking care of the widow or their family was like an infidel.

If that’s not what it means, then what does it mean? It means that the two become one– they’re no longer separate. They live together, are on mission together, and should consider their relationship as if it’s one being. Meaning that it’s primary over the familial relationship– not that they no longer listen or are a part of their families.

One Teaching

In the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 6 tells us what the Israelite people needed to do so that they would follow God all the days of their lives. The promise in this passage speaks to multiple generations:

1. “This is the command—the statutes and ordinances—the LORD your God has instructed me to teach you, so that you may follow them in the land you are about to enter and possess. 2 Do this so that you may fear the LORD your God all the days of your life by keeping all His statutes and commands I am giving you, your son, and your grandson, and so that you may have a long life. 3 Listen, Israel, and be careful to follow them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly, because Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey.
4 “Listen, Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. d 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. 7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. j 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (Dt 6:1–9). (2009). Holman Bible Publishers.

Here we see that the message would repeat down three generations, and if you taught and lived these things, you and your family would prosper.

Love the Lord with all your Heart, Soul, and Strength

This is something that is lived out in the every day. You show that you love him by putting his words in your heart. You repeat the words to your spouse and your children everywhere you are– whether it’s when you lie down, wake up, walk in the park, when you do the laundry, or when you clean out the cat-box. God told them to put his word around their house and on their person so that they were available any time they wanted.

Don’t Forget God as He Blesses You

God wanted them to know that he was providing them a perfect land, and that they shouldn’t get complacent or believe that their blessings were on account of their own deeds, and forget God. They were to always give God the recognition he deserves and praise him for what he had done.

Explain the Covenant to Your Children

As the Israelites saw blessings and watched their parents do different things in the covenant, they were to make sure that the children understood why they did them. They should explain how God brought them out of Egypt, the meaning of the covenant, and why they did what they did.

One Mission

When Jesus gave the Great Commission, before he ascended back to Heaven, he told his disciples that their mission was the same as those of the covenant– but applied to all people. Disciples are to make other disciples– offspring in the faith that are to be trained to follow God, to see him as high and lifted up.

• We are to baptize them– birth them into the new life.
• We are to teach them to observe all things– just like the father in the Jewish household would do
• We are to remember he is with us always– just like having the Word of God on our person and all over our home.

So, as you’re beginning the journey into married life, think about what you’re building. What choices will you make now that will impact your ability to do things later on? What patterns and practices can you put into your daily rhythm to help you to stay faithful? What is your vision and goals for your family?

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The way we define a word can make all the difference in what we think about that thing.

In Genesis 3, the serpent finds Eve in the Garden and attempts to redefine the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That means that the very first sin was an attempt at a redefinition– God said that something was to be avoided because it was bad, Satan said that the tree was something good and would make one wise.

Often, we find ourselves in battles over words, or find that the definition of words has been changed, and we think that these subtle changes are fine, but whoever controls the dictionary has a large control over the culture.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the attempt to redefine marriage over time. In the Bible, marriage was between a man and a woman for life from the beginning, but we don’t have to go very far to find someone attempting to change that. Lamech, also in the book of Genesis, takes two wives to proclaim his own greatness, and pollutes the definition. God lays out laws to protect women, widows, and orphans, only to find his people continue polygamy, and the king “after his own heart” commits a vile adultery.

Many women and children were treated like property, which was not God’s design. Marriage began to be viewed as “prison”, with “ball and chain” being a term applied to wives, and either the abusive husband or deadbeat dad being popular conceits. And then, in just the last few years, we added the idea that all marriages will end in divorce, and extended marriage to non-heterosexual couples.

So when we talk about marriage and try to focus on what God intended as recorded in the Bible, we shouldn’t be looking toward a 1950s version of marriage, or some romanticized version from books, but we should be looking toward what the point actually was for marriage. What was the design?

Let’s look at the pattern– God created two loving partners who were equipped to do a task together. Adam was told to name the animals, bring order to chaos, multiply, and tend the garden. He could not– I repeat, could not– do this alone, so God created for him the perfect being to be a part of that mission.

In English, a better word for what we see in the Creation is “Team”. That word contains everything we should think about when we think about when we think about marriage:

• There is a goal, a winning condition
• Everyone on the team has different roles that they fill to make it so the team will win (different positions, different hierarchy, etc.)
• Coaching the members on the team on how to play their role is foundational
  • Drills
  • Practice times
  • Creating the best lineup

So maybe it’s time to think of marriage in different terms, terms that help us understand a group that works together until we can fix or redeem the word marriage?

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The Bible is full of clear instructions: both what to do and what we should not do. One of the things that it encourages us is that we should be careful who we choose as our friends and influences. We forget that, even in the smallest things, our peers and friends guide many of our choices and decisions.

Psalm 1 – Blessed in Our Walk

The Psalmist David, in Psalm 1, provides vivid imagery about what should not be our influence. He states:

Psalm 1:1-3

How happy is the man
who does not follow the advice of the wicked
or take the path of sinners
or join a group of mockers!
Instead, his delight is in the LORD’s instruction,
and he meditates on it day and night.
He is like a tree planted beside streams of water
that bears its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.¹

In this passage we see two progressions. The progression of the man walking and what the person ends up being. First, he walks with or takes the advice of the wicked. Then, he takes of the path of sinners, which leads him being part of a group of mockers. In the KJV, we see this as walk, stand, sit, but both convey the same path.

We may not think that we are far from God because we just walk with the ungodly, but David says that there is a pattern, where we can end up sitting and identifying with the scornful. We may think we’re only engaging in some sin, or accepting some of the world into or lives, but this slippery slope is no fallacy. Even if we only ever follow the advice of the world, we’re not following after God and we are being impacted and prevented from living our lives to the fullest.

The preferred choices is at the end– do not let the world define your worldview, but have God do it instead. Spend time in God’s word, meditate on it day and night. Let it marinate in your brain, impact who you are and inform your actions. If our preferred influence are things that are not godly, then we’re walking with the world, and we rob ourselves of blessing if we walk with God instead.

Some examples of each of these groups in the world today?

• The Ungodly (ignoring God’s ways) – Family of Origin, Work Culture, Entertainment, Peer Pressure
• The Sinners (missing the mark) – Pornography or sexualized media, Financial Pressures/Consumerism, Unhealthy friendships, Conflict Patterns
• The Scornful (ridicule marriage) – Online voices/influencers, Coworkers/friends, Media commentary, extended family

Proverbs 13:20 – Who Will You Walk With?

Obviously, we’re going to walk with our partners– we made a covenant until death! But what families and groups are you going to associate with– what should you look for?

You need friends who will:

• Going to point you toward working things out with your spouse
• Going to pray with you
• Going to be there when times are difficult– be there for each other

You also need to be careful that if you find negative influences toward you and your marriage, you limit your exposure to them or cut them off entirely. If a group encourages things that would harm your marriage, they definitely need to go, but you also have to consider things that might not be sin, but that would hinder you in your walk or testimony– good things like sports or events that would keep you away from your ability to be faithful members of your church, that hurt your ability to spend time with family, or good things that you are just not able to do during this season of your life that you can pick back up in the next.

Life is a journey, and good friends will be with you for some or all of it. Think of it as a marathon, rather than a sprint.

Romans 12:2 – Do not be Conformed, Be Transformed

The key to a thriving marriage is found in transforming who we are to be like Christ. Marriage in and of itself is a sanctifying influence. We learn to give up ourselves daily for someone that lives with us– and then many that live with us (parents, children, others). We learn to work together with one another as a couple, our likes and dislikes and how to function.

If we draw closer to Christ, then we will draw closer as a couple, and this transformation will make us resistant to the herd’s influence. Instead, we are the influencers!

Our marriages show off Christ and the Church to those around us. He needs to be our foundation, even when it doesn’t seem like you have the time.

Especially in the early years of marriage, you need to form godly habits, determine your values, and seek to put him first. If you haven’t already, you should:

• Think through your family’s vision together.
• Figure out what your non-negotiables are
• Decide on what are only nice-to-haves

Focus on Christ and plan for the future, and you’ll be well guarded against the impulses to join the herd.

1. The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (Ps 1:1–3). (2009). Holman Bible Publishers.

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Many are content with doing things the easiest way they can. Whole areas of the Internet prey on those who believe that they can get rich playing video games, they can get thin without changing their diet, or that they can get respect without changing their behavior. The truth is that true growth and change comes from difficulty.

Nothing that is worth it ever came in a cereal box, and yet, when we face a difficult challenge the natural reaction we have is to complain about the problem, run from the challenge, or just give up and find something else. The storms of life serve a purpose– to strengthen our resolve and to build character.

The storms show us who we are and what we truly value.

If you think that the storm that you’re facing is especially severe, remember that the wind blows hardest against the tallest trees:

Redwoods actually have remarkably shallow root systems that extend no more than 6 to 12 feet beneath the surface. Instead of depending on depth, they depend on breadth. The roots extend far outward and as they grow, the roots of one tree will twist and wrap around many others until they have formed an entire system that is nearly impossible to topple from above or uproot from beneath. Redwoods are found in groves because they depend upon one another for their growth, their help, and their survival. A lone redwood is soon likely to be a dead redwood, or if not that, a dwarf redwood that never reaches its full potential.
– The Winds Blow Hardest Against the Tallest Trees

Make sure to surround yourself with people that can support you so that you will not fall when tested– that you, and those around you will grow stronger. Don’t trust in just yourself to help you grow, but surround yourself with others to help you face the trials, to help you learn from what the storm teaches you, and to be able to grow stronger together.

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Let’s say you were walking out of the grocery store, and you noticed a woman yelling at an elderly woman in a wheelchair. The one lady who is obviously upset keeps pointing at her car and then shouting back at the other who is sitting there quietly.

What do you do?

Do you speed up and walk a little faster to your car?

What if that same woman goes to hurt the disabled woman? What if she tips over her wheelchair and then leaves the woman lying on the pavement and drives away? At what point would you turn and go to confront the two?

Or would you just ignore the whole situation claiming, “It’s not my problem, so why should I get involved?”

It is a good question.

If you’re not the one being threatened, it’s quite tempting to leave a dangerous situation. But what if it was something simpler than that? For instance, Proverbs 31:8 brings up a scenario by saying, “Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die.”

To paraphrase this, we are told to look out for those who aren’t as capable as us. Like a man who can speak, arguing for another who cannot, we are called to look out for those who need our help. ‘Who are appointed to die’ could mean those who are in a situation that could end in death for them, or it could also refer to those who are weaker, perhaps elderly.

The next verse in this chapter continues to give us instructions about looking out for others: “Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.” This verse tells us to judge righteously. So, when we’re in a dilemma where something bad might happen to someone who doesn’t deserve it, we should stand up for them.

The same is commanded for those who are poor. We are to ‘plead their cause’, or to defend them in any way possible. Whether it’s a legal battle or even just interfering with a possible fight, we are called to help others.

But why?

What are some of the benefits of helping those who are weaker than us?

Well, for starters, God values the poor and regularly told His people to look out for widows and orphans, so by looking out for the weak, we’re doing God’s will. Another reason to do so is by looking out for others, we can demonstrate God’s love.

Also, at some point in time, we could find ourselves in their shoes. Perhaps our health could fail, or we might lose our jobs. In those cases, we would be quite happy to receive help from others, especially knowing that we’ve done the same.

So, back to our first scenario. Instead of ‘getting out of there’ and leaving the needy woman to fend for herself, we can remember that we have the ability to help her, so we should. And maybe in the process, we could also tell her more about our Lord and Savior who looks out for us as well.

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Perhaps a better question to ask is what would it take for someone to ‘be content’? It’s easy to say that given more money or belongings, you would be truly happy, but that wouldn’t be contentment.

To be content means to be happy or satisfied with your current situation. A rich person, with a great abundance, can lack contentment, in the same way a poor person, living from day to day can be upset with what he doesn’t have.

Agur, the author of Proverbs 30 discussed this in a wise way. He starts by saying, “Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die.” Or in other words in verse seven, he explains that this is what he truly wants.

What he proceeds to ask for is quite interesting.

He doesn’t ask for money or a greater increase in his property.

No, instead he asks, “Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me.” First, Agur starts by saying that he doesn’t want to be deceitful.

‘Remove far from me vanity and lies’, he says, inquiring that instead of being rich and proud of what he owns, he’ll instead be humble and truthful. Then, he adds his other request which is to be neither poor nor rich.

Now why would he say that?

Wouldn’t it be better to be rich so you could praise the Lord and thank Him for all of His great blessings? Or on the other hand, wouldn’t it be more beneficial to be poor so God could make an example of Agur by providing for him?

Verse nine gives us an explanation, “Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.” So, Agur describes what would happen if he was rich or the opposite.

He says that if he was ‘full’ and had everything he wanted, he would forget the Lord. After all, if Agur had security in his belongings, then it would be easy for him to assume that he was self-sufficient and that he didn’t need God’s help.

On the flip side, Agur was concerned that if he didn’t have enough, to the point where he didn’t even have food, then he would be tempted to steal for a meager meal. In that case, by stealing, Agur would cast a shadow on the Lord and what He stands for. Agur was aware that stealing, even for necessity would look bad, not on him, but on the Lord, whom he claimed to follow.

So, what can we learn from Agur’s example? Well, for one thing, we should realize that it is both the Lord who gives us good things and bad. That said, we need to remember to thank Him for both the good and the bad.

Like Job, after losing everything said, “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?”

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“Do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”

Ever been hanging out with some friends, and then you let something slip out of your mouth before you have a chance to think about just what you’re saying? Maybe your guests are busy chatting about their own lives, and you feel forgotten, or perhaps you just want to make the conversation more interesting.

So, you mention something simple. “Oh yeah, I heard about that! Did you know that the man who lived there before that was a criminal? Yeah, I heard he hit up a few banks and then spent some time in jail. He definitely deserved, the old hoot!”

Then, suddenly, one of your friends stands up and walks away.

You’re confused…what was bothering him.

Only later does he admit that ‘old hoot’ was his grandfather, who was struggling with the rumors that were circulating about him. He never had robbed a bank…but thanks to the nasty comments about him that were floating around, more and more people were beginning to think he had.

And now you feel stupid.

Proverbs 29:20 speaks about this kind of behavior and in particular calls out a man who regularly makes it a habit of speaking before he has time to think it through. The verse reads, “Do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”

A fool is someone who doesn’t understand even the simplest of things. While a fool might seem smart, in reality, they speak on petty matters they can’t comprehend. In this case, however, we are told that a man who speaks rashly is more doomed than a fool is.

Why?

Well, think about it. Learning to tame your tongue is incredibly difficult, which is also why it has such power. Over and over the Bible speaks on the benefits of and consequences of not taming your tongue. James 1:26 goes as far as to say, “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.”

It is very important then that we learn to think before we speak.

In a heated situation when we’re mad or frustrated, it’s really easy to say the first thing that comes to mind. Whether that is an insult or something that really shouldn’t be said, when we ‘feel’ it’s justified, it’s really hard to stop it.

What’s even harder though is swallowing whatever harsh comment you want to say and instead speaking gently to whoever it is we’re mad at, as Proverbs 15:1 advises us to do. Even in situations when we aren’t mad or intentionally trying to hurt someone, it is still important to watch our words.

If what we’re saying is gossip or harmful rather than beneficial, we should swallow our words, pray for the strength to say something else, and instead either remain quiet or speak positively.

Very rarely will saying something mean or rude give us the response we want, and in the end, it will just hurt our friendships. “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!” (Psalms 141:3)

So, let’s pray for the courage to control our words and think twice before we speak!

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Perhaps the best way to figure out what it means is to look at some of its synonyms like ‘loyal’ and ‘steadfast’ as well as ‘trustworthy’. Or in other words, to be faithful is to cling to something, out of respect or belief in that thing.  

For instance, in another book of the Bible, John says, “If you love Me (God), keep my commandments,” (John 14:15). We are called to follow God because we are also supposed to love Him and love the goodness He possesses.  

Following God and obeying His commandments is one way we can serve God ‘faithfully’.  

Which brings us back to the verse we’re discussing, Proverbs 28:20. This verse reads, “The faithful person will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.” There’s our word ‘faithful’ again.  

But this verse doesn’t specify exactly who we’re supposed to be faithful to…or what. A Christian can be faithful to both God and to their job. In fact, we are called to do our work as if we’re “working for the Lord and not for human masters.” (Colossians 3:23)  

HOWEVER, while we are called to do our best work, we are also called to remember what our first priority is, and that is honoring God. Accumulating wealth and personal gain aren’t bad things in themselves, but if it’s what you strive for, or your life’s purpose, then there can be a problem.  

After all, Matthew 6:24 reminds us, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”  

This lines up with what our verse in Proverbs is trying to tell us. If we are faithful in our work and do our jobs diligently, in most cases that will be rewarded or ‘blessed’. On the other hand, a man seeking money will not go unpunished.  

Why?  

Well, if your focus is on money, then most of the other things in your life will become a lower priority. This is why workaholics don’t see their family as much as they should or miss major events because they’re (in some cases) seeking more money.  

Now again, we need money. Without money, it would be impossible to buy food or other necessities. And, if you meet someone who is wealthy, that doesn’t mean they’re going to be punished in the future, because of their status.  

Wealth can be a gift from God as well.  

As 1 Samuel 2:7 says, “The Lord makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts.” This verse shows that God alone has power over whether or not we will have an abundance. A house fire can raze a billionaire’s expensive beach home, and a poor man could be promoted to a high position due to his hard work.  

Possessions are temporary.  

We need to focus on what isn’t.  

God.  

“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

Matthew 6:19-21

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What’s the point of running your house, job, or even your daily life in a way that’s both prosperous and right?

It can be easy to see the current state of whatever we’re doing and assume since it’s all going great, we won’t have any problems in the future.

Let’s take the example of a farmer for instance.

This farmer, (We’ll call him, Jeff.) has hundreds of animals. He has dozens of cows in one pen, too many to count chickens in another, and still more goats in the barn. It would be really easy for him to wake up one Monday morning and decide not to check on one of his sick animals, thinking, “Who cares if I lose one chicken? I have 752 other ones!”

Meanwhile, that one sick chicken dies…but so do about a hundred other ones!

Now, Jeff realizes he has a problem…all of his chickens are now diseased, and their eggs can’t be sold! There goes a big chunk of his profit!

Now, all of us aren’t farmers. We have other jobs, whether it’s working with computers or working with upset customers, not all of us are tasked with the responsibility of raising chickens and cows.

BUT this scenario could be applied to any of our lives. For instance, maybe a banker notices something is off with his numbers, but he forgets about it…only to try to write a check later and discover he’s a couple hundred dollars short!

Proverbs 27:23 tells us to, “Be diligent and know the state of your flocks and attend to your herds;” but the next verse tells us why. “For riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to all generations.”

In other words, what we have now is only temporary. We might have a huge savings account or a well-booming business, but that isn’t a guaranteed thing. Hard work will produce money and some of the other necessities that we need, but that’s not to say trouble can’t arise.

Disasters, fires, tornadoes, or even a death in the family are all events that cannot be planned, and when they happen, they can result in significant damage. What it DOES mean though, is to be prepared and to work hard, so that if something does come your way, you can be ready to address it.

The rest of Proverbs 27 lists ways a farmer should pay attention to his work, such as gathering herbs, using lambs as clothing, and using goats as both milk and food. We should do our work, not only because God calls us to, but also because by working we are providing for our family.

This is echoed by verse 27, which says, “You shall have enough goats’ milk for your food, for the food of your household, and the nourishment of your maidservants’. Whatever you do for a living should be able to provide for you, your family, and anyone who helps you.

So, let us remember to work, not only to be a godly example but also to provide for those we are responsible for.

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Like everything in the world of programming, the way that we develop software changes along with how we develop it. The concepts of agile development have been around for a relatively long time, with some of the disciplines continuing to be refined. Part of making sure that Agile works as designed is to make sure that you have the proper ceremonies or disciplines set up so that you’re successful in the sprint. One of those things is making sure that you’re doing the right things before and after the sprint.

Sprint -1

You’re always in a sprint, and there will always be a next sprint coming if you’re committed to doing agile. Part of the current sprint should be helping to plan for what comes in the next sprint so that you’re ready when you get there. That means that you should make sure to reserve time in the current sprint for planning the next one.

You should be a part of regular meetings with your team where you’re considering what items come in the next sprint. A review of the stories that are coming next should be performed with the goal of making sure that a story is truly thought out and all questions resolved to the furthest possible.

For example, if you are going to build a new widget on your website, you should have identified in your story the target persona. This is actually one of my favorite things in software development because of a book I read The Inmates Are Running the Asylum (aff). Developing personas can be a lot of fun and you should be able to keep a set of them by name so that you can refer to them regularly and know why they want to do certain things.

Other things you want to cover are the What and the Why you are doing something, figure out your acceptance criteria and review any designs. Think of this step just like an architect building a house that is drawing up blueprints. You’re trying to get a design out of your head and onto paper such that when you hand it over to the builders you have a good shot at getting what’s in your head. And when you’re done with one story, move on to the next one.

Sprint +1

Every sprint should have something that is deployable. That doesn’t mean that every story you work on in a sprint is code that will make it into production– we’ve already seen that some of the work in the sprint is planning for the next one! But every sprint should have a branch where completed work from the sprint ends up such that the development team has done their work and it can be deployed to a User Acceptance environment of some kind.

The way it should work is this:

1. At the end of a sprint, the development and Quality Assurance teams have reviewed stories that they believe to be complete on the development test network.
2. They then deploy this to the User Acceptance environment and move on (or continue on) with the next set of stories toward the next release.
3. While the development team has moved on, the product team, which is customer-focused, socializes the items that have been put on the User Acceptance environment and confirms that what has been delivered is correct.
4. If the product team gives the go-ahead, the solution is deployed to production.
5. Repeat the cycle.

This way, the decision to push to production is made by the product team in consultation with the customer who has approved what is delivered. The cycle of delivery is shortened, which means that stories have been coherently decomposed to make sure that there’s something deliverable. Customers can see items resolved faster than long lead times where they’re waiting a month or more.

Quality and Buffer are the Keys

This plan only works if you build a buffer into your schedule. If you are consistently overbooking your team expecting herculean efforts to get things done, then you won’t have time to do things the right way. If you don’t have a buffer, you won’t be able to handle issues as they come up or be able to be flexible enough to change simple items. You won’t have time to plan.

This plan only works if you have quality built into your code from the beginning. You need to know what you’re building, you know how you’re building it, and at each step of the way you are ensuring that you’re building things that will work in all test cases. Having done your Sprint – 1 work, your quality team should be able to help you with a test plan for your story– that you, as a developer, should be testing. There should be no excuse to get to the end of a story and have QA find many bugs because we all should know what we should build in the first place.

So, wherever you are in your Agile journey, practice Sprint +/- 1 and see if that gives you better results in your future sprints!

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