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Recommend overtime or a hire for a four-week peak, with the math

  • For Managers and team leads
  • You practice Catching mistakes and made-up facts
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Intermediate

About this exercise

Start with the line "PEAK PLAN Nov 15 to Dec 12" on its own. Write four lines starting "Gap:", "Overtime:", "Hire:" and "Recommendation:". Show the arithmetic on the first three lines, in hours and dollars per week, and make the last line start with "Recommendation: Overtime" or "Recommendation: Hire", then one reason. Assume overtime hours are fully productive. Plain text, under 90 words.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Skipping the productive-hours ratio. The AI treats part-timers as fully productive. Try: Say: "Part-timers are 70% productive."
  • Verdict first, math missing. The AI states the pick and gives vague reasons. Try: Say: "Show the arithmetic on each line, then pick."
  • Using the wrong rate. The AI uses $22 for overtime. Try: Say: "Overtime is $33 an hour."
  • 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 lines
  • Asks to show arithmetic
  • Mentions productive hours
  • Asks for plain text
  • Sets a length limit

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