Project Breakdown Planner

Prompt Template

Act as a senior project manager. Break down the following project into a detailed, actionable plan.

Project: {{project_description}}
Deadline: {{deadline}}
Team size: {{team_size: 1}}
Key constraints: {{constraints: none}}

Provide:

## Phase Breakdown
For each phase:
- Phase name and objective
- Duration estimate
- Key deliverable
- Success criteria (how do we know this phase is done?)

## Task List
| Task | Phase | Estimated Hours | Dependencies | Can Be Parallelized? |

## Critical Path
- Identify the longest chain of dependent tasks
- Calculate minimum project duration
- Flag tasks where delays will push the deadline

## Risk Register
| Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation |

## Milestones & Checkpoints
- Weekly check-in questions to assess progress
- Early warning signs the project is falling behind

## Quick Wins
- 3 tasks that can be completed in the first day to build momentum

Assumptions to validate before starting (list any assumptions you made).

Tips

• Provide as much detail about constraints and resources as possible for accurate estimates
• Review the critical path first - this determines your real deadline
• Start with the quick wins to build momentum and test your workflow
• Re-run this prompt at each phase transition to re-plan remaining work