Practise the standard verbs for running a focused, timeboxed technical spike.
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1 / 5
Fill in: 'We ___ a firm timebox on a technical spike before starting it, so open-ended exploration doesn't quietly consume an entire sprint with nothing shippable to show for it.'
We 'set a timebox' — the standard, simple collocation for capping the duration of an investigative task. The other options are less idiomatic here.
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Fill in: 'Running a spike with no timebox and no defined question can ___ the whole team days deep into a rabbit hole nobody actually agreed to explore.'
We say an unbounded spike will 'leave' the team deep in a rabbit hole — the standard, natural collocation for the resulting scope creep. The other options aren't idiomatic here.
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Fill in: 'We ___ a spike's actual question in one sentence before starting, since exploring a technology in general is a very different task from answering one specific concern.'
We 'define a question' — the standard, simple collocation for stating exactly what a spike is meant to answer. The other options are less idiomatic here.
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Fill in: 'We ___ the findings from a spike in a short written summary, so the knowledge outlives the timebox rather than living only in one person's memory.'
We 'write up findings' — the standard, simple collocation for documenting the outcome of an investigation. The other options are less idiomatic here.
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Fill in: 'We ___ the spike the moment the timebox runs out, even mid-investigation, since the whole discipline of timeboxing depends on actually respecting the limit.'
We 'stop a spike' — the standard, simple collocation for ending an investigation at its agreed limit. The other options are less idiomatic here.