The phrase "a sensible first step" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when discussing an initial action or decision that is logical and reasonable in a given context.
Example: "Implementing a trial period for the new policy is a sensible first step towards ensuring its effectiveness."
Alternatives: "a logical initial action" or "a reasonable starting point".
A sensible first step would be to fire Clapper for lying to Congress about the secret program trampling Americans' privacy.
A sensible first step would be to establish automatic mechanisms to invoke a special prosecutor in cases where the police themselves are the suspects.
A sensible first step is for Congress to establish a comprehensive system of preventive detention that is overseen by a national security court composed of federal judges with life tenure.
Since it no longer makes sense for the increasingly entwined cash and derivatives markets to be policed by separate regulators, a sensible first step towards streamlining would be to merge the CFTC and the SEC.Will America sort out its problems before the rot goes too far?
For Rise, focusing on food was a sensible first step.
To do so, a sensible first step is to take IT fashion seriously.
This "loser pays" rule is not a comprehensive solution to the patent troll plague, but it is a helpful and sensible first step.
A common and sensible first step in studies aimed at linking changes in gene expression to particular environmental challenges has been to concentrate on specific strains of a few model species, with strict control of environmental conditions and using pooled data and/or average values.
The lesson of the latest budget is that entitlements in general, and Social Security in particular, are still sacred; so sacred that even sensible first steps to put them on a sounder financial footing are discarded as too risky.
There's a bit of that at the end, but 110 of the book's 140 pages are a sensible guide to first steps in no fewer than 30 walks of American life.
