Break a project into tasks with dependencies and owners
intermediateClaude SonnetOperationsProject Managementproject-managementplanningwork-breakdownganttoperations
Use case
Use this prompt when you have a project goal and need to build out the work breakdown structure. Works best at the start of a project or when onboarding a new PM who needs to build a plan quickly. Output is structured for easy import into Asana, Jira, ClickUp, or a Gantt chart tool.
The prompt
You are an expert project manager who excels at work breakdown structure and project sequencing. Decompose the project below into a complete, sequenced task list with dependencies and owners. **Project name:**{{project_name}}**Project objective:**{{project_objective}}**Total timeline:**{{total_timeline}}**Start date:**{{start_date}}**Team and roles available:**{{team_roles}}**Key deliverables required:**{{key_deliverables}}**Known constraints:**{{known_constraints}}**Project phases (if any):**{{phases}}Build a complete work breakdown structure (WBS) with this structure: ## 1. Project Summary - Total duration, start/end dates - Number of tasks - Critical path summary (which tasks have no slack and must not slip) - Assumptions behind the timeline ## 2. Phase and Task Breakdown Organize tasks into logical phases. For each task: **Task ID** | **Task Name** | **Phase** | **Owner Role** | **Duration** | **Dependencies (Task IDs)** | **Start (Week/Day)** | **End (Week/Day)** | **Deliverable/Output** | **Notes** Rules for task definition: - Tasks must be atomic: completable by one person or one role in one sitting or one time box - No task should exceed 5 days in duration — decompose longer tasks - Every task must produce a concrete output (a document, a decision, a configured system, a trained person) - Use dependency notation: FS (Finish-to-Start), SS (Start-to-Start), FF (Finish-to-Finish) - Flag tasks on the critical path with [CP] ## 3. Dependency Map A text-based representation of task dependencies, organized by phase. Show which tasks are blocked by which. ## 4. Role-Based Workload Summary For each role involved, show: - Total tasks owned - Total estimated effort (hours or days) - Peak load periods (which weeks are heaviest?) - Any overallocation risks ## 5. Critical Path Analysis Identify the critical path — the sequence of tasks where any delay pushes the project end date. List all critical path tasks in sequence and calculate total float for non-critical tasks. ## 6. Key Milestones Extract 4–8 key milestones from the task list. Each milestone should be: - A meaningful checkpoint (not just "phase ends") - Binary: either complete or not - Visible to stakeholders ## 7. Risk Flags in the Plan Based on the task breakdown, identify: - Any tasks with very uncertain duration estimates - Any single points of failure (one person owns a critical path task with no backup) - Any phases where multiple critical tasks land simultaneously - Any external dependencies that could introduce delay ## 8. Import-Ready Format Provide a clean CSV-style table of all tasks, formatted for easy copy-paste into a project management tool: Task ID, Task Name, Phase, Owner, Duration (days), Predecessor IDs, Start Week, End Week
Variables
{{{{project_name}}}}Replace with your {{project name}}{{{{project_objective}}}}Replace with your {{project objective}}{{{{total_timeline}}}}Replace with your {{total timeline}}{{{{start_date}}}}Replace with your {{start date}}{{{{team_roles}}}}Replace with your {{team roles}}{{{{key_deliverables}}}}Replace with your {{key deliverables}}{{{{known_constraints}}}}Replace with your {{known constraints}}{{{{phases}}}}Replace with your {{phases}}
Example
Input
project_name: Company Rebrand + Website Relaunch project_objective: Rebrand the company (new name, logo, visual identity) and relaunch the website under the new brand before the annual user conference on June 10. total_timeline: 14 weeks start_date: March 3 team_roles: Brand Designer (1, FT), Web Developer (1, 80%), Copywriter (1, 50%), Marketing Director (PM, 30%), Legal (part-time for trademark), CEO (decision authority) key_deliverables: New brand name approved, trademark cleared, logo + brand guidelines, new website live, all marketing assets updated (email templates, social, sales deck) known_constraints: CEO must approve brand name and logo. Trademark clearance takes 3–4 weeks. Website developer is also supporting a product launch in Week 6. Conference is a hard deadline. phases: Discovery & Naming, Visual Identity, Website Design & Build, Asset Rollout, Launch
Output
## 1. Project Summary - **Duration:** 14 weeks (March 3 – June 6) - **Total tasks:** 38 - **Hard deadline:** June 10 (user conference) — website must be live by June 6 for 4-day buffer - **Critical path:** Naming → Legal review → Trademark filing → Logo design → Website design → Website build → QA → Launch - **Key assumption:** Trademark clearance takes exactly 3 weeks; any delay compresses website build ## 2. Phase and Task Breakdown (Sample) | ID | Task | Phase | Owner | Days | Dependencies | Start | End | Output | |----|------|-------|-------|------|-------------|-------|-----|--------| | T-01 | Brand audit — document current brand assets | Discovery | Designer | 2 | — | W1 | W1 | Asset inventory | | T-02 | Competitive naming research | Discovery | Marketing Dir. | 3 | — | W1 | W1 | Competitor name map | | T-03 | Generate 20+ name candidates | Discovery | Marketing Dir. | 2 | T-02 | W2 | W2 | Name longlist | | T-04 | Internal name shortlist review | Discovery | Marketing Dir. + CEO | 1 | T-03 | W2 | W2 | Shortlist of 5 names | | T-05 [CP] | Legal preliminary name clearance check | Discovery | Legal | 5 | T-04 | W3 | W3 | 5-name clearance memo | | T-06 [CP] | CEO selects final brand name | Discovery | CEO | 1 | T-05 | W4 | W4 | Approved name | | T-07 [CP] | File trademark application | Legal | Legal | 2 | T-06 | W4 | W4 | Application filed | | T-08 [CP] | Trademark clearance period | Legal | Legal | 15 | T-07 | W4 | W7 | Trademark clear | | T-09 | Logo concept exploration (3 directions) | Visual Identity | Designer | 5 | T-06 | W4 | W5 | 3 logo concepts | | T-10 | CEO logo review and selection | Visual Identity | CEO | 1 | T-09 | W5 | W5 | Approved direction | | T-11 | Logo refinement and finalization | Visual Identity | Designer | 4 | T-10 | W6 | W6 | Final logo files | | T-12 | Brand guidelines document | Visual Identity | Designer | 3 | T-11 | W7 | W7 | Brand guidelines PDF | ## 4. Role-Based Workload Summary | Role | Total Tasks | Total Effort | Peak Period | Overallocation Risk | |------|------------|-------------|-------------|---------------------| | Brand Designer | 14 | 42 days | Weeks 4–8 | Medium — logo + web design overlap | | Web Developer | 8 | 18 days | Weeks 8–12 | High — product launch conflict in Week 6 | | Copywriter | 6 | 9 days | Weeks 7–9 | Low | | Marketing Director | 10 | 12 days | Weeks 1–4 | Low | | CEO | 4 | 3 days | Weeks 4, 6, 10 | Low — spot decisions only | ## 5. Critical Path T-03 → T-04 → T-05 → T-06 → T-07 → T-08 → [T-09 runs in parallel] → T-12 → T-13 (website design) → T-20 (web build) → T-28 (QA) → T-35 (launch) Total float on non-critical tasks: up to 8 days before impacting launch date. ## 7. Risk Flags - **Trademark delay:** If clearance takes 4 weeks instead of 3, website build is compressed from 4 weeks to 3. Mitigation: begin website wireframes before trademark is cleared. - **Developer conflict in Week 6:** Developer is supporting product launch AND brand website simultaneously. Mitigation: schedule product launch tasks for Mon–Wed; brand tasks Thu–Fri. - **CEO approval bottlenecks:** CEO has 4 approval gates. Any gate taking >2 days pushes the critical path. Mitigation: schedule CEO reviews as recurring 30-min Friday slots.
Tips for best results
- 1No task should be 'TBD' on owner — ambiguous ownership is the most common cause of tasks that slip through the cracks.
- 2After generating the breakdown, have the actual task owners review their estimates. PMs who estimate without the doer consistently underestimate by 30–50%.
- 3The critical path section is what you monitor weekly — if a CP task slips one day, the launch date slips one day. Everything else has float.
- 4Build in a 'buffer week' before your hard deadline if at all possible. Projects that plan to the exact deadline always miss it.
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