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Nudge engineering with a four-line message and days waiting

  • For Customer support teams
  • You practice Asking for a format you can use
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Beginner

About this exercise

Write a Slack message with four lines starting "Ticket:", "Waiting:", "Impact:" and "Ask:". Waiting is the number of days since engineering's last reply, today being Nov 6. Ask gives one concrete request with a deadline date. Plain text, under 50 words, and no "Hi" or thanks line.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Counting from the open date. The AI says 7 days. Try: Say: "Days since engineering's last reply."
  • Adding pleasantries. The AI starts with 'Hi team' and ends with thanks. Try: Say: "No greeting and no thanks line."
  • Vague ask. The AI says 'any update?'. Try: Say: "Ask for an ETA or workaround by Nov 9."
  • 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. AI is bad at counting and usually runs long, so a vague "keep it short" lands well over the limit. Try: Cap each part instead of the total, for example "each line under 15 words".

What a strong prompt includes

  • Names the four labels
  • Defines Waiting
  • Gives the deadline
  • Asks for plain text
  • Sets a length limit

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