How to write a prompt that gets useful work done

Start with an outcome you can check

“Help with this meeting” leaves several possible jobs open. Do you want a summary, decisions, action items, or a follow-up email? Name the job and the audience before adding stylistic instructions.

For a useful first experiment, choose a small task whose answer you can judge yourself. This makes it easier to see whether an instruction helped.

Give the task, material, constraints and format

The example below is an editorial exercise. Replace the notes with your own non-sensitive material. The instructions define both what to extract and what to do when the source does not say.

Task: Turn the meeting notes below into action items for the project team.

Use only the notes. For each action, return: action, owner, due date, and the supporting sentence. If the owner or date is missing, write “not specified.” Keep suggestions separate from agreed actions.

Notes:
[paste the relevant notes here]

Check the answer before polishing the wording

Look for invented owners, dates or commitments. Check each supporting sentence against the notes. An answer can follow the requested format and still get the facts wrong.

If it misses implied actions, decide whether your task should include suggestions. If so, ask for a separate suggestions section. A clear distinction is more useful than silently turning guesses into commitments.

Change one thing and compare

Keep the same notes and compare your original prompt with a revision. Score both on missing actions, unsupported claims and time spent correcting the result. Repeat on a few different sets of notes.

This is a small experiment, not a universal ranking of prompts. Keep the version that works for your tasks, and revisit it when the model, app or task changes.