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Pick the retro changes the team actually voted for
Practice: Setting limits and rules. About 5 minutes.
About this exercise
You ran your team's quarterly retrospective with dot voting, and now you're posting the changes you'll make. You want exactly 3 numbered lines, the three items with the most dots, each as change - owner (dots), under 45 words, plain text. Skip the item you ruled out of scope in the meeting even if it got votes, and leave out the venting. Write a prompt that gets you exactly that.
Common mistakes when you ask AI for this
- Missing the scope call. The monitors have the most dots, so the AI ranks them first. Try: Add: "Skip anything I ruled out of scope, even if it got votes."
- Dropping the owners. The AI lists changes but not who's doing them. Try: Add: "Each line: change - owner (dots)."
- Keeping the venting. The AI includes the complaints as 'themes'. Try: Add: "Only the voted changes, no venting."
- Letting the AI pick the layout. The AI writes a full retro summary with headings. Try: Be exact: "Exactly 3 numbered lines, plain text."
- Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for "under 45 words" and it often lands well over. Try: Cap each part instead: "each line under 10 words."
What a strong prompt includes
- Says how many lines
- Ranks by dots
- Skips out-of-scope items
- Shows the line shape
- Sets a word limit
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