I often split my big projects into smaller deployable pieces (e.g., rather than 1 large feature launch, "silently" deploy backend changes first, then expose in the UI).

This approach also helps in debugging: deploy and fix each piece incrementally.

The only times I've burned out are when working on a massive update without any visible progress. When I finally deployed, I would be overwhelmed with a huge number of bugs to fix.

If the goal is to cure burnout, that's only a problem if you feel compelled to continue work on the little fish projects. I find that if I get a new project, it tends to push an old one from my mind, so there's not much more mental clutter than before.

I guess, but I was thinking more of the case where you end up in a cycle of constantly taking new ideas and making minimum viable products out of them without developing them (or your big idea) further.

Of course, that's a much better "problem" to have than to be mentally constipated for long periods of time without bringing anything to fruition ...

Except that most Moby Dick projects started out as little fish - Twitter and Flickr spring to mind.

Damn good point.