How to brief AI so you do not redo the work

A prompt is a request. A brief is what you would hand to a capable colleague who has never seen your project. The second one gets you useful work the first time.

Brief it like a colleague

Imagine giving the task to a smart new hire. You would not say "write something about our product launch" and walk away. You would say what it is for, who reads it, what to use, what to avoid and how you will judge it. An AI assistant needs the same things.

The six fields

The Unpuzzled Brief has six fields. You do not always need all of them, but you should notice which one you left out.

• Goal: what the result is for, in one sentence.
• Context: who reads it, what they already know and what is at stake.
• Material: the facts, notes or documents it should work from, so it does not invent them.
• Boundaries: what to avoid, how long it can be, what it must not claim.
• Output: the shape you want, such as three bullet points, a table or a short email.
• Check: how you will know it is right, and which parts you will verify yourself.

A small example

Weak: "Summarise this report." Better: "Summarise this report for a manager who has two minutes. Use only the report. List the three decisions it asks for, then the one risk it understates. No more than 120 words. I will check every number against the report."

The second version takes thirty seconds longer to write and usually saves the three rounds of "no, shorter" and "no, only from the document" that follow the first.

Keep your best briefs

When a brief works, save it. A short library of briefs for the tasks you repeat is worth more than any list of clever prompts, because it is built around your work and still holds up when the tools change.