Break a project into small tickets

This prompt splits a project into tickets that each take less than a day, with acceptance criteria, dependencies and a sensible order. It marks what can run in parallel and which ticket is riskiest.

text-code-break-into-tickets — claude — 81 words

Act as an experienced engineering manager.

Project or feature: [DESCRIBE]
Team: [e.g. 1 frontend, 1 backend developer]
Deadline: [e.g. 3 weeks]

Break the work into tickets that each take less than a day. For every ticket give a title, a two-line description, acceptance criteria and dependencies. Put them in a sensible order, mark what can happen in parallel, and highlight the riskiest ticket so we can start it first. Output as a table I can paste into Jira, Linear or Trello.

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Start with the riskiest ticket. If something is going to blow up the estimate, it is better to know in week one.

Get a better result

What you will get

A table of tickets that each take under a day, with a title, a two line description, acceptance criteria and dependencies, in a sensible order with parallel work marked and the riskiest ticket flagged to start first.

Why it works

The one day limit is what makes the plan useful, because small tickets are easier to estimate and to finish. Naming the team and deadline lets it spot work that can run in parallel and whether the plan even fits. The table output saves retyping, and flagging the riskiest ticket brings the scary unknown to the start of the project.

Common mistake

The tickets are split by layer, like “all the backend”.

Fix: Ask for thin slices that each deliver something a user can see, such as “save one booking end to end”, so progress is real.

Also watch for

Acceptance criteria say “works correctly”. Ask for criteria a tester could tick, like “shows an error when the date is in the past”.
The plan ignores the deadline. Ask it to add up the days, compare with your deadline and suggest what to cut or move to a second release.

Try a variation: plan a solo project

Say it is just you, part time, and ask for tickets of one or two hours with a clear stopping point for each evening.

Still not right? Reply with this

We finished the riskiest ticket and learned this: [WHAT YOU LEARNED]. Re-plan the remaining tickets with that in mind.