Thanks all, I think I have a better grasp on this now and need to get comfortable with just setting the next action or two unless it is very clear about the entire project. In that case the project itself will trigger more as I will inherently know where I am with it.
Another element to consider: Often the best planning format for a project (what I think of as project support material) isn't a list of projects and actions. And often using the best planning format makes the list of projects and actions far less necessary.
For example, I have an ongoing plan to simplify and drought-proof my garden. I could make that a whole bunch of projects with a whole bunch of actions. But I get a much deeper understanding of the plan by drawing a series of diagrams of the garden--its state now, its desired end state, and then, in between those, a couple of diagrams for the next couple of seasons.
There's a lot of information about a garden that isn't conveyed well in lists of projects and actions, and is conveyed well with an overhead plan. Similarly, there's a lot of information about a programming project, or a dinner party, or an event, or probably most projects, that is conveyed best in forms other than lists of projects and actions.
I do have a few lists associated with my garden diagrams, but they're not action lists--they're lists of information and ideas. There's a list of candidates for a drought tolerant ground cover in one area, a list of candidates for added perennial vegetables, etc.
I COULD sit down with those diagrams and create a whole bunch of projects, but then every time I change the end goal, I'd have to change a whole bunch of projects.
If I'm concerned about possibly missing deadlines, I can address that in the diagrams--for example, areas will have "FP" or "SP" to indicate that they're an appropriate candidate for fall planting or spring planting. Two little letters are easy to add and easy to change my mind about, as opposed to--OK, let's make a project:
ESTABLISH JAPANESE ANEMONE BED
- Prep bed 12K for Japanese anemones
- Add irrigation to bed 12K
- Evaluate existing Japanese anemone candidates for transplant
- Order enough Japanese anemones to fill out the bed
- Soak Japanese anemone transplant candidates
- Transplant Japanese anemones
- WAITING FOR ordered anemones
- Plant ordered anemone seedlings.
Yes, all of those actions need to happen. But (1) they're obvious and (2) I may change my mind and prioritize some other thirsty plant over Japanese Anemones, or I may not get around to this until next year, and then I've wasted my time creating a detailed project that will either be deleted or will clog up my lists for eighteen months. (In my case, it'll be deleted.)
I'm much better off scribbling "Jap. anem WET FP" on a spot in my diagram. (The WET lets me see at a glance how many thirsty plants I have in what is supposed to be a drought tolerant garden.) If I know that the cultivar that I want is hard to get and I might have to mail order it, it can be "Jap. anem WET FP MO".
Then my projects and actions can address my planning format. I can have projects like, "Create FP list by priority" and "Create MO list by priority" and "evaluate WET plans."
Only when I actually get very VERY close to planting do I enter, anywhere, detailed actions like, "Soak Japanese anemone transplant candidates". (Even then, it will probably be, "Soak candidates on transplant list", as part of a project, "Carry out Transplant Saturday!" but that just reflects my preference for batch projects in the garden.)