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Flag stale macros in a six-row audit table

  • For Operations and supply chain
  • You practice Catching mistakes and made-up facts
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Intermediate

About this exercise

Today is Nov 6, 2026. A macro is stale if it was last reviewed more than 6 months ago; a review on exactly May 6 is not stale. Output a table with the header "Macro | Owner | Status" and one row per macro, Status being Stale or Current, then a last line in the form "Stale: N of 6". Plain text, under 90 words.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Trusting the side note. The AI believes the September 'basically reviewed' remark. Try: Say: "Use only the Last reviewed dates in the register."
  • Mishandling the boundary. The AI marks May 6 stale or Apr 30 current. Try: Say: "Exactly May 6 is not stale; anything before May 6 is."
  • Wrong layout or count. The AI adds a date column or skips the summary line. Try: Give the header and the last-line format.
  • 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

  • Gives the header
  • States the cutoff
  • Uses the register only
  • Asks for the summary line
  • Asks for plain text

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