Rank a pile of urgent jobs to fit the hours you really have

About this exercise

Everything at your cafe feels urgent, but tomorrow you and one employee have 12 hours combined. Rank the jobs in a table with columns Rank | Job | Hours | Running total, using this order: safety or legal deadlines first, then supplier or customer deadlines, then the rest. The running total must never pass 12. End with one line starting "Deferred:" naming what waits and why. No headings or bold, under 200 words.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

• Missing the late text. The AI plans 4 hours of catering prep that's no longer due this week. Try: Add: "Brightwater moved to next Friday, so defer that prep."
• Ranking by gut feel. The AI puts the paying customer first and the health fix later. Try: Give the order: "Safety or legal first, then supplier or customer deadlines, then the rest."
• Ignoring the hours. The AI lists every job as if time were unlimited. Try: Add: "Show a running total of hours that never goes over 12."
• Over-formatting. The AI adds a title, headings and bold labels. Try: Say: "Just the table and one Deferred: line. No headings or bold."
• 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: "each line under 15 words."

What a strong prompt includes

• Gives the capacity
• Gives the ranking rule
• Asks for a running total
• Catches the change
• Asks for a deferred line

Practice this now ↑

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