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Write a specific shoutout for an agent using only facts
- For Managers and team leads
- You practice Getting the tone right
- Time about 5 minutes
- Level Beginner
About this exercise
Write a Slack shoutout. It must start with "Shoutout to Dev:", name what Dev did and its result using only the facts, and end with "Thank you, Dev." No superlatives such as "best", "amazing" or "incredible". Plain text, under 40 words.
Common mistakes when you ask AI for this
- Big words. The AI writes 'incredible work'. Try: Say: "No superlatives; be specific."
- Vague praise. The AI says 'great job helping a customer'. Try: Say: "Name the action and the result with the numbers."
- Missing exact lines. The AI writes its own opening. Try: Quote the opening and closing.
- 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
- Quotes opening and closing
- Asks for specifics
- Bans superlatives
- Asks for plain text
- Sets a length limit
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