8 Simple Rules for Getting the Perfect Prompt
You don’t need special words or secret formulas to get good results from AI. You need to explain yourself clearly, the same way you would to a capable new colleague on their first day.
Most “prompt engineering” advice makes this sound more technical than it is. It isn’t. Good prompting is really just good communication, said plainly, with enough context, and a clear idea of what you actually want back. Here are the eight rules that matter, in language anyone can use.
1 Start With the Goal, Not the Jargon
Say what you actually want, in plain words, before anything else. Don’t reach for technical terms you’ve seen online, just describe the outcome like you’d describe it to a friend.
✓ Clear: “Rewrite this so a busy parent understands it in one read.”
If you can’t say it simply, the AI can’t guess it for you.
2 Brief It Like a New Colleague
A new colleague on day one doesn’t know your business, your history, or your audience, unless you tell them. AI is the same. Give it the background it has no way of guessing: who it’s for, what’s happened so far, what matters here.
Context isn’t extra effort, it’s the thing that turns a generic answer into a useful one.
3 Show an Example of “Good”
If you have something close to what you want, whether it’s a tone, a format, or a similar piece of writing, share it. One good example is often worth several paragraphs of instruction.
Showing beats explaining, every time you can manage it.
4 Say What You Don’t Want, Too
Instructions usually focus only on what to include. It’s just as useful to rule things out: no jargon, no bullet points, nothing over 200 words, don’t mention price. Boundaries narrow the guesswork fast.
A clear “don’t” often saves three rounds of “not quite.”
5 Ask for the Shape You Actually Need
Do you want a list, a table, a short paragraph, an email? Say so directly. AI will guess a format if you don’t specify one, and the guess is often wrong for what you actually needed it for.
Naming the format is one sentence that saves a rewrite.
6 Let It Think Out Loud for Hard Problems
For anything with real complexity, a decision, a calculation, a judgement call, ask it to reason through the problem step by step before giving the final answer. This alone catches a surprising number of mistakes.
“Walk me through your thinking first” is one of the highest-value sentences you can add.
7 Tell It Who’s Reading
The same information lands differently for a 12-year-old, a board of directors, or a tired parent at 11pm. Naming the audience does more to shape tone and difficulty than almost any other instruction.
Audience is a shortcut to tone, so don’t make it guess who it’s talking to.
8 Treat the First Answer as a Draft
The first response is a starting point, not a verdict. If it’s close but not right, say exactly what to change, rather than starting over from scratch. Good prompting is often a short conversation, not one perfect message.
You’re allowed to say “almost, but fix this bit.” That’s not failure, that’s the process working.
None of this requires technical knowledge. It requires the same clarity you’d bring to briefing a person, because that is, in the end, exactly what you’re doing.
Getting a good result from AI was never really about the AI. It was always about how clearly you can say what you mean.