Your Subtasks Don't Need Subtasks
Photo by Maxim Makarov on Pexels A few years ago I managed a website redesign inside my task manager. It started sensibly: a project called "Website redesign" with a handful of steps. A month later I opened it up and found this: Website redesign → Design → Homepage → Hero section → Pick new photo . Five levels deep. I had built a matryoshka doll out of chores. Here's the part that stuck with me:…
Task managers often allow you to create an infinite number of subtasks, which can give the illusion of organization and structure. However, this feature can actually hinder productivity in three subtle ways. As tasks get deeper and deeper, they become less visible in your daily view, leading to a false sense of progress. Additionally, completion at multiple levels can be vague and misleading, making it difficult to determine what truly needs to be done.
David Allen, author of "Getting Things Done," emphasizes that projects are made up of action steps, not the entire project itself. Each step should be broken down into genuine actions, not further subtasks. To address this issue, the author suggests a simple rule: a task can only be broken down once, and subtasks should not have their own subtasks.
If a piece of work requires further breakdown, it should be promoted to a full task with its own date. Alternatively, you can split the work differently and create a more accurate breakdown. This approach helps maintain a clear and actionable task list without hidden complexity.
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
