Planning

Planning is an important part of a successful accomplishment. Seems like a simple principle but how often is it actually done?

A top down approach seems to be fairly effective. On getting a task, break it down into a few high level ideas on how to resolve it. When actually starting on the high-level idea, break it down into smaller tasks. On working through the objectives add additional tasks as soon as they come to mind. This means that the list of subtasks is representative of the actual amount of work entailed by the task.

Ultimately the task list will enable improvement in estimating how long a task will take. By not removing items from the list, it forms a record of the thought process involved at each stage of completing the task.