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Count back board packet deadlines from a rescheduled meeting
Practice: Giving the right context. About 5 minutes.
About this exercise
You're the executive assistant at a nonprofit, and the quarterly board meeting just moved. You want exactly 5 numbered lines in date order, each as date - task - owner, under 60 words, plain text. Count every deadline back from the new meeting date using the lead times in the bylaws and your notes. Write a prompt that gets you exactly that.
Common mistakes when you ask AI for this
- Using the old meeting date. Jan 22 is at the top. Try: Add: "The meeting moved to Thu Jan 29. Count back from that."
- Rounding the dates. The AI writes 'mid-January'. Try: Add: "Give exact dates."
- Dropping owners. The AI lists tasks without who. Try: Add: "Each line: date - task - owner."
- Letting the AI add extras. The AI adds the insurance renewal. Try: Add: "Only board prep tasks. Plain text, numbered."
- Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for "under 60 words" and it often lands well over. Try: Cap each part instead: "each line under 8 words."
What a strong prompt includes
- Says how many lines
- Uses the new date
- Counts back
- Shows the line shape
- Sets a word limit
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