AI Feedback Checklist

The first answer is a first draft. Here's how to give AI the notes you'd give a colleague.

The 3-part feedback note

Stay in the same chat. Then tell it three things, in your own words.

• What's wrong. Name the problem you can see. "The opening takes too long."
• Who it's for. Name the reader and what they care about. "My CFO reads the first 2 lines and stops."
• What good looks like. Describe the result you want. "Lead with the decision, show the cost, and end with the approval I need."

You don't need special wording. The notes you'd scribble in the margin are the prompt.

Fill-in version

6 worked examples

Email to a client. "Too stiff. It's for a client I've worked with for 3 years. Make it warm, keep it under 120 words, and end with one clear next step."

Status update. "It buries the problem. It's for my VP, who skims. Put the one risk in the first line, then what I need from them."

Recommendation memo. "It lists options but doesn't recommend one. It's for the leadership team. Lead with my recommendation, give the 2 reasons, then the cost of waiting."

Meeting summary. "Too long. It's for people who missed the meeting. Give me decisions, owners and dates. Nothing else."

Job post. "It sounds like every other job post. It's for experienced people who are happy where they are. Open with the problem this role solves."

Slide outline. "Too many slides. It's for a 10-minute board slot. Cut it to 5, one message per slide, and put the ask on slide 1."

One-line follow-up notes

When it's close, give one note at a time.

• "Shorter."
• "Less formal."
• "Cut the headings."
• "Lead with the answer."
• "Use plain words. No jargon."
• "Give me 3 versions of the first line."
• "Keep everything else. Only fix the second paragraph."
• "What did you change, and why?"

When to start a new chat instead

Stay in the same chat while you're refining one piece of work. Start a new chat when you switch to a different task, or when a long chat starts drifting and forgetting what you told it earlier. Carry over the key facts so you don't start from zero. The Current Brief Template shows how: https://aimadesimple.ca/current-brief-template/

A reminder

This works the same way in ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot. Use the AI tool your company has approved, and check facts and numbers yourself before anything goes out.