Resources

I need a prompt I can paste into an LLM to do this job: [describe the job in plain language]. Context: the output is for [who reads it], in [format and rough length], and it will be used to [what happens next]. It would be wrong if [the failure you most want to avoid]. Before you write anything, ask me every question you need answered to write a better prompt, one at a time, and wait for my answers. Then give me the finished prompt in a single block I can copy, with [brackets] around anything I will need to fill in each time.

You are [the role: a grant reviewer at a community foundation / a bookkeeper who has seen a thousand invoices / a program officer reading her fortieth report this week]. You are careful, direct, and you say what you would actually think. Read the material below and give me [the task: the three claims you would question first, and why / the two numbers that do not reconcile / the paragraph you would cut]. Stay in the role. Do not soften it. If something is fine, say it is fine. [paste the material]

I am going to show you one finished example and then ask for a new one in the same shape. Here is the example: [paste it]. What made it work: [one or two sentences: the tone, the structure, the thing it led with]. Now write one for this: [the new details]. Match the structure, tone, and length of the example. Do not reuse its sentences. If the new details are missing something the example needed, ask me rather than inventing it.

Before you write anything: list every assumption you are making about this task, the person it is for, the format, the length, and what counts as done. Number them. For each one, tell me whether you are confident or guessing. Then stop and wait. I will confirm or correct the list, and only then should you produce the work. The task: [describe it]

Give me a second version of this, built differently: a different structure, a different opening, the same facts and the same length. Do not just reword the first one. Then, in two sentences, tell me which of the two you think is stronger for [the reader], and why. If neither is good, say that. [paste the first version]

I want three separate answers to the question below, then a synthesis. First, answer as a skeptical board member who has seen consultants come and go and is protecting restricted funds. Second, answer as the program director who will have to run whatever we decide. Third, answer as the finance officer who has to defend the spend at audit. Keep each answer in its own section and do not let them agree with each other just to be agreeable. Then write one paragraph that names exactly where they disagree and what would settle it. The question: [paste it]

Entry format for the shared prompt document, one entry per prompt that worked: Name: [Grant report intake] Use it when: [you have raw notes for a reporting period and need a first draft] What it returns: [outcomes tied to numbers, one story, open questions] Owner: [name] Last checked: [date] What to watch for: [it will round numbers if you let it; tell it not to] Prompt: [paste the prompt exactly as it worked]

I am going to describe a situation with every name, address, date of birth, and identifying detail removed, and I will refer to people as Person A, Person B, and so on. Work only from what I give you. Do not ask me for more detail about who anyone is. If anything I have written could still identify a real person, stop and tell me which part before you do anything else. The situation: [describe it]