Going Further in Prompting at Work

Lessons in this section

1. Complex Tasks

   Handle big jobs in small steps: outline first, then one section at a time; messy notes into an action table with TBD for gaps; one step per message; and role-play to practise hard conversations.

2. Prompt Templates

   Turn prompts that worked into reusable templates with [placeholders], fill them in safely, and write standing instructions so every chat already knows your role, your readers and your style.

3. Fact-Checking AI Output

   Catch AI mistakes before they go out: compare answers with the source line by line, make the AI show where facts came from, check sums and dates yourself, and ask it to mark guesses with [CHECK].

4. Data Safety

   Keep confidential data out of AI chats. Sort information into green, amber and red, anonymise customer and employee details, describe data instead of pasting it, and let the AI leave placeholders.