Turn a rambling voice memo into a printable supply-room SOP

About this exercise

Denise, your office manager, is leaving and recorded a rambling voice memo about restocking the supply room. You'll print the steps and tape them to the closet door, so you want exactly 6 numbered steps in the order the work happens, each starting with a verb, under 100 words in total, plain text. The steps must use the current supplier and include the approval rule, and leave out her stories. Write a prompt that gets you exactly that.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

• Not giving the step order. The AI groups things by topic or adds a 'Tips' section, so the steps no longer match how the job is done. Try: Add: "Number the steps in the order the work happens. Start each with a verb."
• Missing the supplier switch. The memo names the old supplier first, and the AI may keep both or the wrong cutoff day. Try: Add: "We switched to Harbor Office Supply, Wednesday noon cutoff. Don't mention Brightline."
• Keeping the chatter. The AI tries to preserve everything Denise said, stories included. Try: Add: "Skip stories and side comments. Output only the 6 steps."
• Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for "under 100 words" and it often lands well over. Try: Cap each part instead: "each line under 11 words."

What a strong prompt includes

• Says how many steps
• Names the current supplier
• Asks for verb-first steps
• Says to skip the stories
• Sets a word limit

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