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Work out the finish day from task dependencies and a change
- For Project managers
- You practice Catching mistakes and made-up facts
- Time about 5 minutes
- Level Intermediate
About this exercise
Build a schedule table with the header Task | Start day | End day, one row per task. Day 1 is the first working day. A task starts the day after all of its prerequisites end, and tasks with no prerequisite start on day 1. Tasks can run at the same time. Use the latest durations. After the table add one line: "Finish: Day N" with the day the last task ends. Plain text, under 80 words.
Common mistakes when you ask AI for this
- Using the old duration. The AI keeps C at 4 days. Try: Say: "Use the latest durations."
- Running tasks one after another. The AI adds all durations. Try: Say: "Tasks with the same prerequisite can run at the same time."
- Off-by-one starts. The AI starts D on day 6. Try: Say: "A task starts the day after all prerequisites end."
- Wrong table or last line. The AI adds commentary. Try: Say: "Exactly this header, four rows, then Finish: Day N."
- Markdown. The AI bolds days. Try: Say: "Plain text."
- 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 header
- Start rule
- Parallel tasks
- Latest durations
- Finish line
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