Workplace Prompt Pack

PROMPTS — five prompts with examples

Add a short task brief first: Task: [what you need]. Audience: [who uses the result]. Facts and sources: [what is confirmed]. Constraints: [budget, deadline or scope]. Do not invent missing facts. Then copy the prompt that fits the work.

1. Sources — vendor recommendation. Identify which claims in this vendor recommendation need evidence. For each, name the supplied source or mark it unverified. Provide additional sources only when available and clearly distinguish them from claims you have not checked. Do not invent references. Open each cited source yourself and check that it supports the claim.
2. Debate — launch date. Compare keeping the go-live date with moving it. Use the same criteria for both: [criteria]. Make the strongest case for each, list trade-offs, and explain what new fact would change your recommendation. Label assumptions. Check that both options receive the same constraints.
3. Find the gaps — approval request. Before drafting this approval request, identify missing information that would materially change the decision, cost, deadline or requested action. Ask me one focused question at a time. Do not fill gaps with invented facts. Supply the answers, then review the brief before drafting.
4. Pre-mortem — project plan. Assume this project missed its target. List plausible reasons, early warning signs and preventive actions. Separate confirmed risks from assumptions and name who should check each important unknown. Investigate the risks rather than treating them as predictions.
5. Review for a decision — $25,000 proposal. Read this as the person approving the request. What is unclear about the decision, $25,000 cost, alternatives or consequences of waiting? Quote the unclear passage and suggest a question to resolve it. Do not change figures without asking. Make corrections against the real source document.

DECIDE — five-step decision sequence

Start with this reusable decision template:

Decision to make: [specific choice and decision owner]
Outcome needed: [what success looks like]
Confirmed facts and sources: [facts, figures, dates]
Constraints: [budget, deadline, capacity, policy]
Options already considered: [if any]
Unknowns: [what still needs checking]

In the same conversation, run these in order. Pause to answer questions and correct assumptions before moving on.

1. Ask up to three clarifying questions before recommending a solution. Focus on facts that could change the decision.
2. List the assumptions behind your analysis. Separate those I supplied from those you inferred. Mark anything I need to verify.
3. Give three realistic options and a recommendation. Compare each against [decision criteria], including trade-offs. Do not treat unknowns as facts.
4. Make the strongest argument against your recommendation. What evidence or change in circumstances would reverse it?
5. After I choose an approach, turn it into a checklist beginning with the first action. Show the owner, due date or dependency where known; leave unknowns blank.

Worked staffing example: A team needs temporary reporting capacity before a deadline. Supply the actual workload, available budget and deadline in the template. If capacity or hiring time is unknown, mark it for checking. Compare temporary support, reprioritization and delaying the deliverable against cost, timing and quality. A recommendation is only provisional until the owner verifies the numbers.

Review before using: Are sources real and relevant? Are options evaluated against the same criteria? Are unsupported assumptions labelled? Is the decision owner named? Does the first action follow the chosen approach rather than the model's earlier recommendation?