Library › Research AI › Managers and team leads

Build a sourced timeline of a shipping delay from team emails

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

About this exercise

Your director wants a timeline of last Tuesday's shipping delay at the warehouse. You want exactly 5 numbered lines in time order, each "time - what happened (source)", using the corrected time where someone fixed an earlier email. Use only events stated in the messages, skip guesses and rumors, and write plain text with nothing else.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Using the first time given. The 7:30 email comes first, and the AI may miss the correction 15 minutes later. Try: Say: "Where someone corrects a time, use the corrected time."
  • Treating rumors as events. The Slack guesses read like explanations, and the AI may add them to the timeline or a cause section. Try: Add: "Only events stated as fact. Skip guesses and rumors."
  • Getting a full incident report. The AI adds causes and fixes you didn't ask for, and the director just wants the timeline. Try: Say: "Output only the 5 lines."
  • Not saying how many. The AI decides the length itself and usually returns more lines in time order than you can use. Try: Be exact: "exactly 5 numbered lines in time order."
  • Getting markdown back. AI defaults to bold labels and headings, which show up as stray symbols in an email to your director. Try: Ask for "plain text, no bold, no headings."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Handles the correction
  • Skips rumors
  • Asks for sources
  • Says exactly how many
  • Asks for plain text

Practice this now ↑

Related exercises