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Label five KPIs as better, worse or flat

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

About this exercise

Your ops director, Sasha, wants to see at a glance how the week went. Write exactly 5 plain-text lines, one per KPI, in the form 'KPI: Better, Worse or Flat - last week to this week'. A change under 2% of last week's value counts as Flat. Remember that for some KPIs lower is better. Under 80 words, nothing else.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Treating up as good. The AI calls Return rate and Cost per order improvements because they rose. Try: Add: "Return rate, handle time and cost per order: lower is better."
  • Fuzzy flat. The AI calls small changes 'slightly better' or marks a 1.5% move as Better. Try: Add: "Flat means the change is under 2% of last week's value."
  • Wrong layout. The AI writes a table with commentary and a summary. Try: Add: "Exactly 5 lines like 'On-time delivery: Better - 91% to 94%'. No notes."
  • Leaving the format to chance. The AI picks its own length and layout unless told the exact shape. Try: Add: "Plain text, no bold or headings."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total word limit and it often lands over it. Try: Cap each part instead, for example "each line under 15 words."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Gives the labels
  • Handles direction
  • Defines flat
  • Shows the line shape
  • Rules out extras

Practice this now ↑

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