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Answer a new hire's corporate card questions with yes or no first
Practice: Keeping the AI to your sources. About 5 minutes.
About this exercise
A new hire sent you three questions about the corporate card. Answer as exactly 3 numbered lines, each starting with exactly "Yes," or "No," followed by the reason and any dollar limit, each under 20 words, plain text. Use the current policy, including the October change, and don't add rules that aren't in it. Write a prompt that gets you exactly that.
Common mistakes when you ask AI for this
- Not fixing the shape. The AI writes a friendly email with a paragraph for each question. Try: Be exact: "Exactly 3 numbered lines, one per question."
- Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for "under 70 words" and it often lands well over. Try: Cap each part instead: "each line under 18 words."
- Hedging the answer. The AI opens with "Great questions!" or "It depends," so the answer isn't the first thing she sees. Try: Add: "Start each line with exactly Yes, or No,."
- Using the old limit. The $250 figure appears first in the policy, and the AI may quote it. Try: Add: "Use the Oct 1 limit of $400."
- Inventing rules. The AI adds plausible rules like "get IT approval for monitors." Try: Add: "Use only rules in the policy."
What a strong prompt includes
- Starts with yes or no
- Uses the current limit
- Sets the number of answers
- Rules out invented rules
- Sets a word limit
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