Five principles for better prompts

Role, context, task, format and an example — five things that noticeably change what AI gives back.

Step by step

1. 1

   The five at a glance

   AI doesn't know who you are, what situation you're in or where the result will go. Hand it what it needs first, the way you would when asking a colleague, and the answer comes back far more specific.

   This guide builds up one example — planning a new hire's first week — adding the five pieces one at a time.

   The five principles, with examples

   Principle	Without it	Example
   Role	Generic advice for anyone	"You're the HR manager at a 30-person IT company"
   Context	Answers that miss your situation	"A new marketer starts next Monday; we work from home Tuesdays and Thursdays"
   Task	AI has to guess what you want	"Draft a first-week (Mon–Fri) onboarding schedule"
   Format	A long block of text	"A table by day, morning and afternoon, no more than eight words per cell"
   Example	The wrong tone or level	"In this tone: 'Welcome! Your first week is for settling in.'"

2. 2

   Give a role and context first

   A role tells the assistant whose point of view and tone to use. Context lets it pick, out of many possible answers, the one that fits your situation.

   Who, when and under what constraints is usually enough context. Leave out real names, contact details and other personal data.

   You're the HR manager at a 30-person IT company.
   A new marketer starts next Monday. We work from home on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
   Plan this person's first week of onboarding.

   Check it

   • See whether the answer accounts for the work-from-home days. The context helps, but with no format set, expect a long block of text — the next step fixes that.
3. 3

   Make the task and format specific

   Rather than "plan it," spell out the scope and the deliverable — "a draft schedule for Monday to Friday." Add the shape you want (a table, a list, a length) and the answer is ready to use.

   Make a draft first-week (Mon–Fri) onboarding schedule as a table.
   One row per day with morning and afternoon columns, no more than eight words per cell.
   Put the person responsible in brackets at the end of each cell.

   Here's a draft first-week schedule in the format you asked for.

   The table the assistant returned (example)

   Day	Morning	Afternoon
   Mon (office)	Laptop and accounts (IT)	Meet the team, lunch (manager)
   Tue (home)	Set up chat and email (IT)	Company intro video (HR)
   Wed (office)	Marketing work overview (manager)	Read past campaign files (manager)
   Thu (home)	Online security training (HR)	Office tour (facilities)
   Fri (office)	First assignment (manager)	First-week review (manager)

   Check it

   • Check the table against your context. In the example, Thursday afternoon's "Office tour" clashes with working from home. Assistants do miss conditions, so point it out and fix it, as in step 5.
4. 4

   Show one example

   For tone and level, one example beats a description. Paste a sentence like the result you want, or something you've written before.

   Write a three-sentence welcome message for the new hire. Match the short, warm tone of the example below, but don't reuse its sentences.
   Example: 'Welcome! Your first week is for settling in. Ask us anything, any time.'

   Jimin, we're so glad you're here! On Monday morning we'll get your laptop and accounts sorted together. Your first-week schedule is in your messages — have a look whenever you like.

   Check it

   • Compare its tone and length with your example. If it copied your sentences, add: "Match the tone only and write new sentences."
5. 5

   Follow up instead of starting over

   Point at the part you don't like and ask for a fix in the same conversation. Start a new chat and you'll have to give all the context again.

   Say what to change and what to keep, so it doesn't rewrite the parts that were fine.

   But if it's still off after two or three corrections, rewrite the prompt with everything you've learned and start a fresh conversation.

   Thursday is a work-from-home day. Replace Thursday afternoon's "Office tour" with something that can be done from home. Keep every other cell as it is and show only the changed row.

   I changed Thursday afternoon only; everything else stays the same.

   The changed row (example)

   Day	Morning	Afternoon
   Thu (home)	Online security training (HR)	Learn our tools on video (manager)

   Check it

   • Compare with the earlier table to make sure only that cell changed.
   • If the same mistake keeps coming back, restate the key condition (the work-from-home days) at the very start of your prompt.