Resources · Prompt library

Ask better, and the answer stops needing checking.

Eighteen prompts that work, with a line under each explaining which part of the wording is doing the work. Copy one, replace the angle-bracketed parts, and run it against your own systems. When one of these becomes something you run weekly, turn it into a skill.

Browse the prompts Skills library

The library

Six functions, and the reasoning left in.

The note under each prompt is the point. Most of these work because of one constraint in the wording, and copying the prompt without it gets you a different answer.

  • Research

    Get to a defensible view on an unfamiliar market

    Build me a view on the <market> market.
Use our own records first, then the live web.
Where the two disagree, say so and show both.
End with the three things that would change the conclusion.

    Asking for the disagreements is what stops a briefing reading as more certain than the evidence is.

    1 field to fill

  • Research

    Check a counterparty before the meeting

    Everything we know about <company>, in two parts:
1. our own history with them, from the CRM, contracts and support
2. what is publicly known as of today
Flag anything in part 2 that contradicts part 1.

    Splitting internal from external keeps the reader clear on which half is yours.

    1 field to fill

  • Research

    Reconcile a literature or filings set

    Read the attached <set> and reconcile the findings.
Group by conclusion, not by document.
For each group, give the strongest supporting citation and the strongest objection.

    Grouping by conclusion turns a reading list into an argument.

    1 field to fill

  • Finance

    Explain a variance without a week of digging

    Explain the variance on <line item> for <period>.
Walk back to the transactions that caused it.
List anything over <threshold> separately, with its own transaction list.

    Naming the threshold in the prompt is what keeps the answer to one page.

    3 fields to fill

  • Finance

    Rebuild a number from the systems, not the deck

    Recompute <metric> for <period> directly from the source systems.
Show the query and the row counts at each step.
Then compare it to the figure in <the reported deck> and explain any gap.

    Asking for row counts at each step is the cheapest way to catch a bad join.

    3 fields to fill

  • Finance

    Prepare the close review

    Run the month-end checklist against the current state of the ledger.
Report only what is genuinely outstanding, with the evidence for each.
Order by what blocks the close first.

    'Only what is genuinely outstanding' is doing the work here. Without it you get the whole checklist back.

    nothing to fill in

  • Legal

    Review a portfolio against your own standard

    Review the agreements in <folder> against our clause standard.
Escalate only breaches, not variations.
For each, quote both our standard and the clause as drafted.

    The distinction between a breach and a variation has to be yours; state it or you get everything back.

    1 field to fill

  • Legal

    Build a chronology that survives challenge

    Build a chronology of <matter> from the documents in <source>.
Every entry carries the document that fixes the date.
Where a date is inferred rather than stated, mark it as inferred.

    The inference flag is the difference between a chronology and an assertion.

    2 fields to fill

  • Legal

    Compare one clause across a relationship

    Put the <clause type> clause from every agreement with <counterparty> side by side.
Mark where they drift.
Say which version governs where they conflict.

    The last line is the one people forget, and it is the one the partner asks about.

    2 fields to fill

  • Compliance

    Read a policy against the regulation

    Read <policy> against <regulation>.
List what the regulation requires that the policy does not cover.
Quote both sides for each gap. Do not suggest wording yet.

    Holding back the drafting keeps the first pass an assessment rather than a rewrite.

    2 fields to fill

  • Compliance

    Assemble evidence for a control test

    Assemble the evidence for control <id> for <period>.
Pull it from the systems of record, not from prior working papers.
List anything you could not evidence and say why.

    'Not from prior working papers' stops last quarter's conclusion being recycled as this quarter's evidence.

    2 fields to fill

  • Compliance

    Reconstruct an access timeline

    Reconstruct who accessed <record> between <start> and <end>.
Merge the logs from every system that holds one.
Order strictly by time and note where clocks disagree.

    Clock skew across systems is the thing that quietly breaks a timeline.

    3 fields to fill

  • Operations

    Write up an incident the same day

    Write the post-incident account for <incident>.
Use monitoring, tickets and the channel history together.
Separate what we know from what we inferred, and list the open questions.

    The known/inferred split is what makes the write-up usable in a review rather than defensive.

    1 field to fill

  • Operations

    Check what a change actually touches

    Trace everything that depends on <service or table>.
Include undocumented dependencies you can find in code, config and query history.
Rank by blast radius.

    Query history is where the undocumented dependencies live.

    1 field to fill

  • Operations

    Put a supplier on one page

    Everything about <supplier> on one page:
contracted rates, actual spend, delivery record, open issues.
Flag anywhere the billing does not match the rate card.

    The last line has paid for itself more than once.

    1 field to fill

  • Sales

    Brief yourself before a first meeting

    Brief me on <account> for a meeting tomorrow.
Our history with them first, then what changed publicly this quarter.
End with three questions worth asking that I could not have asked last year.

    Asking for questions rather than facts is what makes the brief usable in the room.

    1 field to fill

  • Sales

    Rank a book by real risk

    Rank <book> by renewal risk.
Use usage, support history and what was actually said on calls.
For each of the top ten, give the one signal that moved it up the list.

    One signal per account keeps the output actionable instead of a dashboard.

    1 field to fill

  • Sales

    Draft from what has already been approved

    Draft a response to <RFP>.
Use answers we have already given and had approved.
Mark every question where no approved answer exists, and do not invent one.

    'Do not invent one' is the whole prompt. The rest is scaffolding.

    1 field to fill

Writing your own

Four things separate a prompt that works from one that reads well.

Name the sources

Say which systems to read and in what order. ‘Our records first, then the web’ produces a different answer from the same question asked without it.

State the standard

What counts as a breach, a variance, a risk. The judgement is yours; the work of applying it consistently is what you are handing over.

Ask for the uncertainty

Where the sources disagree, what was inferred rather than stated, what would change the conclusion. An answer that names its own limits is one you can act on.

Say what not to do

‘Do not invent one’, ‘do not suggest wording yet’, ‘escalate breaches, not variations’. The prohibition is usually the line carrying the whole prompt.

Once a prompt has been rewritten the same way three times, it has stopped being a prompt. Save it as a skill so the fortieth person to run it gets the same wording as the first.

Own your intelligence.

Bring the question you actually need answered and we will run it against your own systems on the call.

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