“Okay,” said Priya, the tech lead. “Let’s size them.”
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.”
Mia added two more small tickets from marketing. “These are quick,” she said. They were never quick. iteration planning
They picked the refactor first. Then payment retry. Then the compliance field.
“We need to get the payment retry logic in,” she said. “Business says failed payments are the top drop-off point.” “Okay,” said Priya, the tech lead
“Reporting can wait,” Priya said. “It’s slow, but it works. Marketing’s tickets can wait. They always say urgent, but check last sprint—they didn’t even test the thing we rushed for them.”
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. Eight developers
“Let’s try something,” she said. “No points.”
