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Plan a knowledge handoff before someone leaves
Practice: Giving the right context. About 5 minutes.
About this exercise
Your senior analyst leaves in 3 weeks, and you need a handoff plan. Write exactly 4 numbered lines in the form 'Topic - who learns it - by date', plain text, under 70 words. Only assign people who are around before the last day, and use the corrected last day.
Common mistakes when you ask AI for this
- Asking for 'a transition plan'. The AI writes a long doc with phases, checklists and headings. Try: Be exact: "Exactly 4 numbered lines 'Topic - who - by date'. 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 line instead: "each line under 14 words."
- Using the old last day. Mar 27 appears first, with the update below it. Try: Add: "Jun's last day is Mar 20; every handoff finishes by then."
- Assigning someone who's away. Leo is on the team list, so the AI may assign him. Try: Add: "Leo is on PTO until Mar 20; don't assign him."
What a strong prompt includes
- Uses the corrected date
- Checks availability
- Shows the line shape
- Sets the number of lines
- Sets a word limit
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