* action plan is a step by step breakdown of larger tasks
* action plans are a good way for people to complete tasks
* people are able to complete more tasks when they have access to pre-generated personalized plans for their tasks
* there are also programs that helps with breaking down tasks such as RunKeeper plans which gives people’s workouts based on a health goal, Cook Smarts helps plan their meals, and Mint helps plan finances
* it was found that it was hard to outsource plan creation for all kinds of tasks because the fully automatic approaches like the apps Run Keeper and Cook Smarts don't have to ability to process-level structural information about domains.


Introduction (Part 1)

Kaur, H., Williams, A, C., Thompson, A, L., Lasecki, W, S., Iqbal, S, T., & Teevan, J (2018). Creating Better Action Plans for Writing Tasks via vocabulary-based planning. In Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction. https://doi.org/10.1145/3274355

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

The task decomposition heuristic is a problem-solving strategy that involves breaking down a large or complex goal into a series of smaller, more manageable steps. This approach makes overwhelming tasks feel more achievable. It also helps in identifying errors and separating known elements from unknown ones, a technique famously used by physicist Enrico Fermi.

Task Decomposition Heuristic

A software developer is tasked with building a complex e-commerce website from scratch. Feeling overwhelmed by the scale of the project, they decide to create a detailed plan. The plan outlines specific, sequential goals: first, design the database schema; second, build the user authentication system; third, develop the product catalog feature; and finally, implement the shopping cart and checkout process. Which problem-solving principle is best demonstrated by the developer's approach?

A common application of the task decomposition heuristic is completing a large research project or long essay. Instead of tackling the entire project at once, students break the overwhelming task into a series of manageable steps, such as brainstorming, developing a thesis, researching the topic, organizing an outline, writing and revising a rough draft, creating a final draft, organizing references, and proofreading.

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