Write a team shoutout that names what someone actually did

About this exercise

You want to praise Lena in the team Slack channel. Write under 50 words, plain text, starting with '@Lena'. Name exactly what she did and the result with the corrected number, and skip generic hype ('rockstar', 'crushed it', 'amazing', 'MVP') and emojis. Write a prompt that gets that shoutout.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

• 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: "3 short sentences, each under 14 words."
• Not saying how to start. The AI opens with "Shoutout time!" or "Big thanks to" instead of tagging her. Try: Say it: "Start with @Lena."
• Generic praise, old number. The AI writes "for all her hard work" and may use the first 210 figure. Try: Add: "Name the PO lookup sheet and the backlog going from 190 to 40."
• Hype and emojis. AI shoutouts are full of "rockstar", "crushed it" and 🎉, which is the opposite of specific. Try: Ban them: "No rockstar, crushed it, amazing or MVP. No emojis."
• Forgetting where it gets pasted. AI adds bold and headings by default, which show up as ** and # clutter in Slack. Try: Add: "Plain text, no bold, no headings."

What a strong prompt includes

• Sets a word limit
• Says how to start
• Uses the corrected number
• Names the action
• Bans hype

Practice this now ↑

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