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Pull only the blockers out of a long standup
Practice: Setting limits and rules. About 5 minutes.
About this exercise
Your cross-team standup notes are long, and your VP only wants the blockers. You want exactly 3 numbered lines, each as blocker - who can unblock it - by when, under 50 words, plain text. Leave out status updates and anything already resolved, including the blocker that got cleared during the meeting. Write a prompt that gets you exactly that.
Common mistakes when you ask AI for this
- Summarizing every team. The AI gives a status per team instead of just blockers. Try: Add: "Only blockers. Skip status updates."
- Missing the resolved blocker. The QA blocker is written as a blocker before it's cleared. Try: Add: "Skip anything resolved during the meeting."
- Dropping who can unblock. The AI names the blocked team, not the person who can fix it. Try: Add: "Each line: blocker - who can unblock - by when."
- Letting the AI pick the layout. The AI writes headings per team. Try: Be exact: "Exactly 3 numbered lines, plain text."
- Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for "under 50 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 lines
- Only blockers
- Skips resolved items
- Names who unblocks
- Sets a word limit
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