Is there an idiom like the Russian's "Untilled field"?

Question

"Непаханое поле" - a [big] amount of undone work.

Updated example: a kid is leisurely watching TV while there a lot of undone homework (which he hasn't even started).

Note: the example below is probably misleading. The thing that something is overlooked, the lack of information is an artifact of the example, not inherent to "untilled field" Russian expression.

For example, a person does some finalizing, "polishing" bits of a work (or just lazying about) not realizing that actually the scope is bigger and he should be doing the intensive, more real thing instead.

Imagine someone removing snow from some ground who keeps cleaning up little bits of remaining snow, not knowing that he has missed a chunk of ground with "untilled" snow.

Answer 1

The idiom a long row to hoe fits pretty well (given the clarification), and it also fits with the original's agricultural theme. Usage:

That's a long row to hoe.

or

He has a long row to hoe.

Answer 2

Russian idiom непаханое поле can have slightly different meanings, depending on a on a context, but in general means that there is many work that can/need to be done.

As a russian speaking person I feel that best match would be:

have a lot/enough on your plate

Usage:

Don't you have enough on your plate?

Which is equivalent to russian:

У тебя же дел непаханое поле?

In a context that you have too much work to do already/barely started to do that you already have.

It can also be combined with:

Business before pleasure

Which is equivalent to russian Делу время - потехе час.

For example:

Business before pleasure, you have a lot on your plate.

Делу время - потехе час, у тебя работы непаханное поле.

Answer 3

There is a well known expression: Rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.

Focussing on small irrelevant details when something much larger is going on all around.
It does carry a connotation of impending disaster if the larger event is not addressed, that may not be what you are after.

Answer 4

Perhaps "can't see the forest for the trees." Which means you're not seeing the bigger picture.

Usage:

Alex argues about petty cash but overlooks the budget--he can't see the forest for the trees.

Answer 5

majoring on the minors

Others spend so much time and energy on nonessential things that they lose the fundamental items of value. Such keep the peelings and throw away the banana or potato or apple; or, to use another figure of speech, they keep the shells and throw the pearls back.

In brief, such persons are majoring on minors. Everyone majors in something. Some interest or project or activity becomes one's primary concern. It is his major even though it may be minor. (emphasis is mine.)

SermonIndex

Confident people do not waste time majoring on the minors or try to win company popularity contests.

The Quality Paradigm

Answer 6

You may use: when up to one's neck in alligators, it's easy to forget that the mission is to drain the swamp

business adage The full expression is some variation of: "When you are up to your neck in alligators, it's easy to forget that the goal was to drain the swamp." It is easy to be so overcome or preoccupied by various tangential worries, problems, or tasks that one loses sight of the ultimate goal or objective.

[Farlex Dictionary of Idioms via The Free Dictionary]

Usage:

Look at that guy cleaning up negligible amount of snow when there is truck load of snow to be cleared up on the other side. I guess, when up to one's neck in alligators, it's easy to forget that the mission is to drain the swamp!

Answer 7

Similar to your idiom, a greenfield project is one that starts from nothing.

In many disciplines a greenfield project is one that lacks constraints imposed by prior work. The analogy is to that of construction on greenfield land where there is no need to work within the constraints of existing buildings or infrastructure.

The emphasis seems to be more that there is no connection to existing work, than that there is a great amount of work to be done. But the latter would usually be implicit.

Answer 8

"Too busy chasing the hogs to build a hog house"

This is in a similar spirit as the alligators and swamp answer, and the "majoring in minors" answer.

My father liked to use this expression, and I believe he picked it up growing up in rural Texas and Nevada in the 1940's.

It is perhaps not a perfect match with all senses of the Russian term, but it does convey that there is a larger, long-term-important project that is being neglected while focusing on smaller, urgent, in-your-face types of projects.

Answer 9

This one isn't well-known outside of the software industry, but I think it fits well with what you're looking for: bike-shedding

It is also known as Parkinson's Law of Triviality

"The time spent on any item of the agenda will be in inverse proportion to the sum [of money] involved."

This refers to people's tendency to focus on small details rather than the larger bits of a project since the smaller details are easier to understand and of less consequence, meaning more people are prepared to discuss them at length.

Usage: "The due date loomed on their project, but the team spent most of the afternoon bike-shedding about minor issues instead of making real progress."

Answer 10

Though not really a idiom, but the following extract (especially the final line in this snippet) from A Little Learning by Alexander Pope seems to apply well.

So pleased at first the towering Alps we try,
Mount o’er the vales, and seem to tread the sky ;
The eternal snows appear already past,
And the first clouds and mountains seem the last ;
But those attained, we tremble to survey
The growing labours of the lengthened way ;
The increasing prospect tires our wandering eyes,
Hill peep o’er hills, and Alps on Alps arise !

So perhaps you could say:
He thought he'd made progress removing snow until he realized, in the words of Alexander Pope, Hill peep o’er hills, and Alps on Alps arise !