AI prompting is programming with words, not asking questions. Treat prompts as instructional specifications rather than conversational queries to a probabilistic completion engine.
Assign the AI a specific role and audience context to narrow focus and leverage expertise from a defined perspective.
- Define who the AI should be (e.g., "You're a senior site reliability engineer")
- Specify the context of the task
- This helps the AI draw from relevant domain knowledge
Never assume the AI knows something. Missing context gets filled with guesses and hallucinations.
- Include all relevant facts, even ones that seem obvious
- Be specific and detailed without holding back information
- Give explicit permission to say "I don't know" when uncertain
- The more context provided, the better the output
Specify exactly what you want the output to look like.
- Format: lists, paragraphs, word count, structure
- Tone: professional, casual, technical, transparent
- Style constraints and structural preferences
- Any specific conventions to follow
Provide 2-3 concrete examples of the desired output style.
- Teaches through demonstration rather than description
- Removes ambiguity in expectations
- Shows the AI exactly what success looks like
Request step-by-step reasoning before arriving at a final answer. This helps the AI work through complex problems methodically.
- Ask the AI to "think through this step by step"
- Modern AI platforms often have "Extended Thinking" modes for this purpose
Request multiple solution approaches to be explored simultaneously.
- Ask for synthesis and evaluation of the best path
- Useful for complex problems with multiple valid approaches
Create competing perspectives that critique each other.
- AI excels at critiquing over original creation
- Use this to validate and improve initial outputs
- Have the AI review its own work from a different angle
Before writing a prompt:
- Think clearly about what you actually need
- Write specifications in a notebook first if needed
- Ask yourself: "Could a human succeed with this information?"
- If the answer is no, add more clarity and context
All prompting problems are thinking problems. If your prompt doesn't work, the issue is usually unclear thinking about what you actually want. Clarify your own thinking first; the AI mirrors your clarity level.