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Schedule two projects for one engineer around a holiday week
- For Project managers
- You practice Catching mistakes and made-up facts
- Time about 5 minutes
- Level Advanced
About this exercise
Plan the engineer's hours for the three weeks as a table with the header Week | Project A hours | Project B hours | Capacity, one row per week. Follow the capacity facts, finish Project A first, and never exceed a week's capacity. Show the capacity per week. Then add the line "Shortfall:" with the hours Project B is short by (write 0 if none), and the line "Both deadlines met:" followed by Yes or No. Plain text, under 90 words.
Common mistakes when you ask AI for this
- Ignoring the holiday. The AI uses 20 hours for week one. Try: Say: "The holidays remove 8 hours in week 1, so capacity is 12."
- Not finishing A first. The AI splits time evenly. Try: Say: "Finish Project A first."
- Claiming both met. The AI assumes it can be done. Try: Say: "Add up the capacity and report any shortfall."
- Wrong table. The AI adds extra columns. Try: Say: "Exactly this header and three rows."
- Markdown. The AI bolds the verdict. 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
- Holiday capacity
- A first
- Never exceed capacity
- Shortfall and verdict lines
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