[jollyllama]

Agreed. I've seen steel thread used to refer to a technique in developing new applications. In this context, it means building one feature to completion before starting others. For example in web development, build a screen that uses a route and an api endpoint to fetch data from your datastore before building other screens using only mocks.

Edit: the advantage of this is that any systemic problems will become apparent quicker; your earlier tasks become a proof of concept for the viability of the project as a whole.

[robertlagrant]

That sounds like vertical slices.

[jollyllama]

I hadn't heard of that term before but yes it is accurate.