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Brief an agent to build a weekly status report automation

  • For Managers and team leads
  • You practice Setting limits and rules
  • Time about 5 minutes

About this exercise

You want an AI agent to set up a weekly team status report. Write its brief: run every Friday at 3 p.m., pull only items marked Done this week or Blocked from the tracker, leave out anything tagged private, post as a draft to #team-updates for your review (never post directly), and if the tracker export fails, stop and notify you instead of posting. Output exactly 8 numbered plain-text lines: trigger, 3 steps, 2 conditions, ASK_HUMAN, DONE.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Not showing the log format. Left alone, the AI writes a friendly report with headings instead of a checkable action log. Try: Show it literally: "Format every line like 1. ACTION: tool(args), then ASK_HUMAN: and DONE: lines. Plain text."
  • Not defining what goes in. The AI includes every open ticket, so the update is a wall of text. Try: Say: "Friday 3 p.m. Only Done this week and Blocked items."
  • No failure or privacy rule. Automations post whatever they get, including private items or a broken export. Try: Add: "Skip anything tagged private. If the export fails, stop and notify me."
  • Letting it go live. The AI posts straight to Slack and switches the workflow on. Try: Add: "Post as a draft for my review. Never activate. Ask me to review."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Sets the schedule
  • Filters the items
  • Excludes private items
  • Handles failures
  • Keeps a human review

Practice this now ↑

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