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Summarize user research findings for an exec with real counts

Practice: Keeping the AI to your sources. About 5 minutes.

About this exercise

Your head of product wants the top findings from last month's user interviews, in a format she can paste into a board update. You want exactly 3 numbered findings, each one sentence ending with how many participants said it, like (7 of 12), under 60 words, plain text. Use the researcher's corrected count and leave out her personal guesses that no participant said. Write a prompt that gets you exactly that.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Dropping the numbers. The AI writes 'many users said', which a board can't weigh. Try: Add: "End each finding with how many said it, like (9 of 12)."
  • Missing the correction. The original count appears first, and the AI may keep it. Try: Add: "Use Joy's corrected count for the recipe-time finding."
  • Mixing in hunches. The AI treats the researcher's ideas as findings because they're in the same doc. Try: Add: "Only things participants said, not Joy's hunches."
  • Letting the AI pick the layout. The AI writes an exec summary with headings and recommendations. Try: Be exact: "Exactly 3 numbered findings, one sentence each. Plain text."
  • 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 14 words."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Says how many findings
  • Asks for the counts
  • Uses the correction
  • Excludes hunches
  • Sets a word limit

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