Breaking down complex tasks into smaller chunks is not always easily done in the moment of planning.

Usually, you have a vague idea of how to solve them in your solution, but the details are still not clear.

Ending with tasks that are way too big.

Usually, this is a sign that you don't quite understand how to implement or solve the problem.

Thinking you will figure it out in the process of development.

This is not always the best path forward, having the risk of experimental code in production and leading to messy codebases.

Here are 3 steps that can help break down your complex tasks into smaller chunks.

Step 1: Understand The Core Problem to Create your Main Tasks

Start by understanding the core problem that you are trying to solve in your application.

If you don´t understand the problem, work for a better understanding.

Get an idea of how to outline the main tasks from your functional descriptions of the Software you are about to create.

It´s essential to get a better overview and deeper understanding of all its dependencies to be able to categorize them into main tasks.

Don't overthink!

In this stage, we want to keep things simple.

In general, we should end up with a baseline of higher-order tasks that you further need to work on through the planning.

Step 2: Small Test Applications to Prepare for Task Breakdown

If you are unsure how to further break down the high-order tasks, it's a sign that you don't have enough prior knowledge on how to implement or solve the task(s).

This could be a new

Topic
API
Library

Or some sort of integration you have not used before, leading to many unknowns and uncertainties.

Start by Upgrading your knowledge by creating small test applications to familiarize yourself with those APIs or Libraries, to allow you to better understand the effort needed to solve these main tasks.

This will help you prepare and gain enough knowledge to proceed with further planning and breaking down the complexity.

Step 3: Break Down The Main Task Into Chunks

Now that you have a better understanding of how to go forward with the implementation, it's time to start breaking down the complexity.

Start focusing on one main task at a time and write down step-by-step in bullet points how you would implement it to complete the main task.

It's always easier to think in lists, for simplicity let´s take an example of a login page:

For bigger projects, I prefer to break down the tasks to around 30 minutes to a max of 2 hours:

Implement the Design and basic user interface of the login screen.
Create the input field for the username.
Create the input field for the password.
Create the login function for authentication.
Create login validation
Create login error handling.
Create a login recovery function for lost passwords or users.

ect..

If it´s a side project, I prefer to break it down even further so that I don't spend more than 5-30 minutes on each task.

Set up the basic structure of the login page.
Set up the background image on the login page.
Add the input field for the username.
Apply CSS styling for the username.
Apply the validation for the username.
Create the login implementation for the username.

ect...

The key is to go through them again and again until you are satisfied.

You should now have created a clear path on how you can break down the complexity step-by-step by using bullet points.

Here, you should have enough understanding of the overall solution and the effort of the implementation and should be able to create tasks of any size.

Breaking up the complexity into tasks is all about helping you to simplify the understanding.

In this case, we use this approach to help solve a complex task by gathering enough knowledge by experimenting and breaking it down into small chunks.

This helps you or your team to not be overwhelmed and stay motivated by having a clear picture of how to solve and implement the tasks.

Making it easier to maintain the habit of completing at least some tasks every day.

3 Steps to Effectivly Simplify Complex tasks into manageable Chunks So that it becomes easier to contain a habit of Completing Tasks as a Software Developer

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