A lot of online content treats writing requests to AI like secret codes. People sell booklets of hundreds of prompts. In practice it is ordinary good instruction: writing down what you want so exactly that any assistant could do it without confusion. People call this prompt engineering.
The mistake most people make
People write a vague one-line command and are then disappointed by a vague answer.
“Act as a digital marketing expert and write a sales pitch for our interior design firm.”
“Transform your living space into a luxurious sanctuary of elegance with our bespoke interior design solutions. In today's fast-paced world, your home is your haven. Contact us today to discover the home of your dreams!”
How it works: instructions to a junior clerk
You tell a new clerk, 'Go and get some stationery.' Forty minutes later they come back with pink plastic rulers, glitter pens and a memo pad. Whose fault is that? Now imagine you'd written a slip: 'Take ₹200 from petty cash. Go to National Stationers on MG Road. Buy two reams of A4 copier paper. Get a GST bill in the company name. Bring it to Room 4.' You'd get exactly what you needed. A good request is that slip, written out in full.
The five parts of a request
1. Role
Who the AI should write as. This sets the words and standards it uses (for example, 'You are the office manager at a logistics firm in Pune').
2. Job
The exact task, starting with a verb (for example, 'Write a 3-paragraph reply to a customer whose delivery is late').
3. Facts
The names, dates, numbers and background, pasted inside quotation marks so they sit on the AI's desk.
4. Limits
What the AI must never do (for example, 'Don't promise a delivery date', 'Don't invent reasons', 'Stay under 200 words').
5. Layout
The shape of the answer (for example, 'A table with three columns: Order number, What went wrong, What we'll do').
Habits for writing requests
[ROLE] You are an operations consultant who works with small businesses of 5 to 20 people. [JOB] Review the client onboarding steps below and find the places where clients often get held up. [FACTS] """ [Paste your current onboarding steps or workflow notes here] """ [LIMITS] 1. Base your suggestions only on the steps listed above. 2. Don't suggest expensive business software like SAP or Salesforce. 3. The team is 6 people working on WhatsApp and Google Sheets. Every fix must work for them. 4. Keep the whole answer under 250 words. [LAYOUT] Give a numbered list. Each item has two lines: - Hold-up: [Name of the delay] - Fix: [One change the team can make tomorrow]
The AI has no room for a vague answer, because the role, job, facts, limits and layout are all written down.
Why does a 'don't' rule ('Don't use words like seamless or revolutionary') often work better than 'Write well'?
Show the answer
'Write well' means different things to different people, so the AI ignores it. A 'don't' rule removes the exact stock phrases the AI reaches for by habit.