Most disappointing AI answers come from short, vague instructions. These five patterns fix that, and they work in any mainstream assistant.
1. Give it a role
“You are writing a weekly update for a client who is busy and wants the headlines first.” A role sets the tone and the level of detail.
2. Give it the material
Paste in the notes, figures or document it should use, and tell it to use nothing else. That keeps it from filling gaps with guesses.
3. Show an example
One good past example beats a paragraph of description. “Match the length and tone of this one.”
4. Specify the format
Headings, bullet points, word count, plain English. Be specific: “Three bullet points, under 80 words.”
5. Ask it to check
“List anything that is missing from my notes rather than guessing.” This one line catches more mistakes than anything else.
Take a task you did with AI this week. Rewrite the instruction using all five patterns and compare the two answers.
Put it together
You are writing a weekly update for a busy client. Use only the notes below. Match the tone of the example. Use three headings and keep it under 200 words. List anything missing from the notes at the end.
Save the instructions that work. That is the start of a shared prompt library, which is the next step for any team.