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Rank your team's requests by deadline and drop the cancelled one
- For Managers and team leads
- You practice Keeping the AI to your sources
- Time about 5 minutes
About this exercise
Your team can take on 5 requests this sprint. Write exactly 5 numbered lines, earliest deadline first, each like '1. Oct 14 - Request - Owner', then a final unnumbered line starting "Defer:" listing what's left. One request was cancelled by the person who asked, so leave it out entirely. Plain text, under 100 words.
Common mistakes when you ask AI for this
- Keeping the cancelled request. The binder is in the list, and the AI misses the Slack message below it. Try: Add: "Legal cancelled the vendor audit binder. Leave it out completely."
- Ranking by gut feel. The AI ranks by what sounds important, not by deadline. Try: Add: "Sort by deadline, earliest first."
- No defer line. The AI lists everything or silently drops the rest. Try: Add: "End with a line starting 'Defer:' listing what's left."
- Letting the AI pick the layout. The AI writes a table with bold headers and commentary. Try: Show it: "1. Oct 10 - Fix careers page links - Kai". Plain text.
- Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting words, so a total word cap usually lands over. Try: Cap each line: "each line under 12 words."
What a strong prompt includes
- Sorts by deadline
- Drops the cancelled item
- Adds a defer line
- Shows the line shape
- Caps the length
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