Plain prompts for writing checklists and step lists

A good prompt does three things. It tells the tool the job, gives it your real facts and sets the shape of the answer. Everything below is a variation on that.

Why the facts go in your prompt

Giving a tool context along with the question is a known technique. The UK's National Cyber Security Centre describes it as providing context information about the question, and gives the example of starting with "Taking into account the below information".¹

For you, that means pasting in your own cleaned notes. Don't ask a tool to write "the procedure for handling a refund" from nothing. It will write a refund procedure for some business, not yours. One tool maker warns that output can include fabricated quotes, studies, citations or references to non-existent sources.² Keep private details out of the prompt too. The list is on the page about private details.

Prompts to copy and adjust

Replace the square brackets with your own words.

Notes to steps

Here are my notes on how we [job]. Write numbered steps. One action per step. Plain words. Don't add steps that aren't in my notes. List anything unclear as questions at the end.

Short checklist

Turn this procedure into a checklist of no more than [number] items. Keep only the checks that stop a mistake. Put each item as an action starting with a verb.

Find the gaps

Read these steps as a new starter on day one. What would confuse you? What would you not know how to do? List questions only. Don't rewrite anything.

Plain-words pass

Rewrite this for someone with no experience. Short sentences. Explain any trade term the first time it appears. Keep every step in the same order.

Opening or closing routine

I run a [type of business]. Here's what we do when we open. Put it into a checklist grouped by area of the shop. Mark any item you've added with an asterisk so I can check it.

Different readers

Give me this procedure twice: a full version for training, and a one-line-per-step version to pin on the wall.

Asking for shape

Shorter lists get read. The source for checklists says to keep to necessary checks and stay brief where reasonably practicable.³ Put that in the prompt.

• Name a length. Give a number, such as "no more than ten items", rather than "keep it short".
• Name the format. Numbered list, table or tick boxes.
• Name the reader. "A casual worker on their first shift."
• Say what to leave out. "No introduction. No summary."

Habits that help

• One job per prompt. Closing the till and cleaning the grill are two procedures.
• Ask it to mark additions. An asterisk on anything it added shows you what to check first.
• Answer its questions. If it asks, give the answer in your own words.
• Start a fresh chat for a new job. Old notes in the same chat can leak into the next draft.
• Save prompts that worked. A shared note with your best three or four saves time.

What a prompt can't fix

Careful wording doesn't make the steps correct. The tool's maker advises using output as a first draft, not a final source.² A well-designed checklist can reduce any tendency to avoid, omit or neglect important steps.³ That only holds if the steps are right.

So read every line. There's a step-by-step routine for that on the checking page.