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Practice · 30 examples
Prompts for common tasks, shown before and after a rewrite. Copy the improved version and use it on real work.
Your part
Every example ends with the step you take outside the prompt. A prompt can’t limit what a tool may access, check the answer or approve an action.
Research
Before
“Summarize our onboarding process and save it to the wiki.”
After
“Summarize our onboarding process from the three attached documents, as a draft for review. List anything that looks out of date or contradictory.”
Your part
Review and fix the draft, then publish it with an owner and today’s date. Archive the pages it replaces.
Why it works: The AI drafts and a person publishes, so nothing reaches the wiki until someone has checked it.
Research
Before
“Research these five suppliers online, then email each one asking for a quote.”
After
“Research these five suppliers on the web and summarize what each offers, with links. Draft a quote request for each, but don’t send them.”
Your part
Give the agent no permission to send email for this task, and read the drafts before you send them. Web pages can carry hidden instructions.
Why it works: Without permission to send email, an agent that reads the open web is missing one part of the lethal trifecta.
Research
Before
“Explain why moving our sales team to a new CRM will save money.”
After
“We’re considering moving our sales team to a new CRM. What are the realistic costs and savings, what usually goes wrong in migrations like this, and what would we need to measure to know it worked?”
Your part
Check the cost assumptions with finance, and ask a team that has done a migration what they’d do differently.
Why it works: An open question gets you the risks as well as the benefits, and a way to measure the result.
Research
Before
“Write a paragraph on the growth of the European AI market, with statistics.”
After
“Using only the three reports I’ve attached, write a paragraph on the European AI market. After each number, give the report and page. List any claim you couldn’t support.”
Your part
Check every number against its page. Numbers you can’t find come out.
Why it works: Limiting the sources and asking for pages turns an unverifiable paragraph into one you can check in minutes.