They also did not stand arranged in a complete form. Breaking means two things. It means that the vessel is unfit to carry out its work (the Sefirah does not have the power to govern), and also that its form or structure is imperfect. The one results from the other.
It is because of the imperfection in its form that it is unfit for its work. Sometimes a thing can break in such a way that it retains a form fit for some other work. However, when the breakage is very great, it is left in no form for any kind of work. The breaking of the vessels was a breakage that left no form whatever, in the sense that the broken vessels were the measure of the creations when in a state of existence lacking all repair.
In their broken state, the vessels themselves are governmental laws that are unable to execute any creative function (פעולה של הויה, peulah shel havayah).