What you really want to do when you have dozens of jumper wires is to do an array-of-struct to struct-of-array transform on the steps. Instead of cutting, stripping, tinning, and soldering one wire at a time, cut all your wires, then strip them all, then tin them all, then solder them one by one.
Here's a pro tip: when you tin the wires, lay the iron flat on your workbench with tip out into air and tin by laying the end of the wire on top and then adding the solder.
Another pro tip: use a pair of needle nose pliers to bend the tinned leads by a little over 90 degrees to make a little hook. When you solder to the board you can apply a little tension and let the solder flow into the hole. Makes very string solder joints.