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Rebuild an incident timeline when the sources disagree

  • For Customer success managers
  • You practice Catching mistakes and made-up facts
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Advanced

About this exercise

Build a plain-text table with the header row exactly "Date | Event | Source used | Conflict?" and one row per event in date order. When the ticket system and someone's notes disagree, use the system date and mark Conflict? as Yes; otherwise No. Plain text, under 110 words, nothing outside the table.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Using the notes' dates. The AI trusts the CSM's memory for P1 and the fix. Try: Say: "Use the system date when sources disagree."
  • Marking everything a conflict. The AI flags rows that only one source mentions. Try: Say: "Conflict is Yes only when sources give different dates."
  • Missing the customer email. The AI drops the Oct 30 failure. Try: Say: "Include the customer email event with its own source."
  • Getting markdown back. AI adds bold and headings by default, which show up as stray symbols where this is pasted. Try: Say "plain text, no bold, no headings, no asterisks".
  • Trusting the AI to count words. The AI runs long and cannot count its own words. Try: Cap each part ("each line under 12 words") and add "under N words in total".
  • Leaving a requirement unstated. The AI follows its own defaults unless the prompt spells this out. Try: State it plainly in your prompt: the header row is exactly 'Date | Event | Source used | Conflict?' with five rows in date order and nothing outside the table.

What a strong prompt includes

  • Gives the exact header
  • System beats memory
  • Defines the conflict flag
  • Orders by date
  • Asks for plain text
  • Sets a word cap

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