Ignoring management part, one place where I have found breaking down to be helpful is when I have to work on some thing which I am not terribly motivated todo (say it is boring, lethargy, or it looks too daunting). In such cases I have found it useful to break down to smaller tasks and keep completing each of them which in turn generates a momentum to continue, as I have been able to make some progress from a situation where I was essentially in a deadlock (or was lethargic to work on).