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Project Decomposition Assistant

Breaks any project into phases, tasks (30-120 min), and MVAs (1-15 min). Applies Pareto 80/20 prioritization to focus on highest impact work first.

Skill·/pda·3 sections·1 min read

productivitycoding

Install Prompt

Paste this into Claude Code to set it up:

I want to add the /pda skill to my Claude Code setup.

Create the directory ~/.claude/skills/pda/ and inside it create SKILL.md with the project decomposition workflow.

The skill should:
- Accept a project description or goal
- Break it into phases with clear milestones
- Decompose phases into tasks (30-120 min each)
- Break tasks into MVAs (minimum viable actions, 1-15 min each)
- Apply Pareto 80/20 prioritization to rank by impact
- Output a structured plan ready for execution

After creating the file, the skill is immediately available via /pda.

01What It Does

From vague idea to actionable plan

Type /pda with a project description and Claude breaks it into a structured hierarchy: phases with milestones, tasks sized at 30 to 120 minutes, and minimum viable actions (MVAs) of 1 to 15 minutes each. Every item is ranked by impact using the 80/20 rule so you always know what to work on next.

Understand the project

Reads the project description, identifies the end goal, constraints, and scope. Asks clarifying questions if the scope is ambiguous.

Define phases

Breaks the project into sequential phases, each with a clear milestone that marks completion. Phases represent major shifts in focus.

Decompose into tasks

Each phase is split into tasks sized between 30 and 120 minutes. Tasks are concrete, completable work units with clear done criteria.

Create MVAs

Tasks are further broken into minimum viable actions of 1 to 15 minutes. These are the smallest meaningful steps you can take to make progress.

Apply Pareto prioritization

Ranks all tasks and MVAs by impact. The top 20% that delivers 80% of the value is highlighted so you start with the highest leverage work.

02How to Use

Usage

Run /pda Build a SaaS dashboard with auth, billing, and analytics to get a full decomposition. You can also run it inside an existing project and Claude will read the codebase to understand context before decomposing.

New projects: provide a goal or description and get a full plan from scratch.

Existing projects: run inside a codebase and Claude reads the code to create a plan that fits the current state.

Iterative: rerun at any point to re-prioritize remaining work as the project evolves.

03Output Format

	Size	Purpose
Phase	Days to weeks	Major milestone representing a shift in project focus
Task	30 to 120 min	Concrete work unit with clear completion criteria
MVA	1 to 15 min	Smallest meaningful action that moves the project forward