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Ask a vendor only the security questions their FAQ skips

  • For Managers and team leads
  • You practice Giving the right context
  • Time about 5 minutes

About this exercise

Your team wants an AI meeting note-taker. Security's checklist has 5 questions; the vendor's FAQ already answers some. Write exactly the questions the FAQ doesn't answer, numbered, each starting with its checklist number like '(C2)'. Don't ask what the FAQ already covers. Plain text, under 70 words.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Asking everything. The AI copies all 5 checklist questions, which wastes the vendor's time and yours. Try: Say: "Only questions the FAQ doesn't answer."
  • Counting fluff as an answer. The AI treats 'passionate about privacy' as covering access controls. Try: Add: "Marketing lines don't count as answers."
  • No checklist numbers. Security can't match your questions to their checklist. Try: Ask: "Start each question with its checklist number, like (C3)."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for "under 70 words" and it often lands well over. Try: Ask for less than the limit and cap each line: "each line under 15 words, under 50 words total."
  • Letting markdown in. AI adds bold and headings by default, and in an email to the vendor they show up as stray symbols. Try: Add: "Plain text only, no bold, no headings."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Skips answered questions
  • Asks for checklist numbers
  • Ignores marketing lines
  • Sets a word limit
  • Asks for plain text

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