How to split a big project into actions you can start today
"Launch the new website." "Hire a designer." "Prepare for the audit." Projects like these sit on boards for weeks without moving, not because people are lazy but because nobody can see where to start. Every time you look at it, the size of it pushes you towards something smaller and more obvious.
The fix is to break the project into actions until the first one is boringly easy.
Start from the outcome
Write one sentence describing what done looks like. "New website live with updated pricing, contact form working, old URLs redirected." Without that sentence, a breakdown has no edges.
List everything you can think of, fast
Spend five minutes listing every piece of work, in any order. Do not organise yet. For the website:
- Write homepage copy
- Choose a template
- Update pricing page
- Get logo files from the designer
- Set up redirects
- Test the contact form
- Ask the client to approve the copy
Find the waiting items
Go through the list and mark anything that depends on someone else: the designer's files, the client's approval, a developer's time. These are the items that will stall the project, so they need to start first. On a 2D board, they go in Other with the person's name on them the moment you ask. See the easiest way to see blocked work.
Make each action small
Any item that would take more than a couple of hours gets split again. "Write homepage copy" might become:
- Draft the headline and three key benefits
- Write the "how it works" section
- Write the FAQ
Find the first action
Look at your list and ask: what could I do in the next 30 minutes that would move this forward? Often it is a message: "Ask the designer for the logo files". It costs two minutes and starts the slowest dependency. Do that first.
Put it on the board
Add the project as a row. Put the first few actions in Mine, the waiting items in Other, and the rest in Next Steps. You do not need every action on the board on day one. Keep the next few visible and add more as you go. See next actions vs perfect planning.
Expect the plan to change
A breakdown is a first guess. You will discover new work, drop some steps and reorder others. That is fine. The breakdown's job is to get you started and keep the project moving, not to predict every task.
A quick test
A project is broken down well enough when:
- You know the first action and could start it now
- Every dependency on someone else is visible and has been asked for
- No action takes more than a couple of hours
If the project still is not moving after that, the problem is not the breakdown. It is priority, and that is a different conversation. See how to prioritize tasks.