Chapter 2 · Practice 3 of 4
Break large work into small, reviewable tasks
From Writing task prompts
Why it matters
GitHub's Copilot guide lists breaking complex tasks into smaller parts as its first prompt tip. Small tasks are easier for the assistant to get right and easier for you to review.
A good task size:
- fits in one pull request a reviewer can read in one sitting;
- has one clear check that shows it works;
- does not depend on decisions still to be made.
For a big feature, Claude Code suggests having the assistant interview you about edge cases and trade-offs and write a spec first, then starting a fresh session to implement it. Its docs note the most useful specs name the files and interfaces, state what is out of scope and end with an end-to-end verification step.