A prompt is just your request.
It’s the question or instruction you give an AI tool. “Explain this word” is a prompt. So is “Help me write a reminder for my reading club.”
You don’t need special phrases. But the assistant doesn’t know the details in your head. If you leave out the time or the audience, it may ask, guess, or give you something too general.
Giving it the useful details makes the answer easier to work with. It still needs checking.
A useful starting point: the task, the context, the format, and the constraints. Let’s see what each one adds.
Audience and examples help too. Tell the assistant who will read the answer. If you have permission to share a short example, show the tone or structure you like and ask it to follow that pattern without copying unrelated facts. “Use this greeting style, but keep my confirmed event details” is clearer than “write like this”.
You won’t need all four for every question. Use enough detail for the job, rather than trying to write the longest prompt.
Let’s write a reading-club reminder.
Imagine you’re organising a small reading club. These are fictional details for our example:
- WhoMembers of the reading club
- WhenSaturday, 3pm
- WhereThe community hall
- What to bringA book to discuss
“Write a reminder” is a start. Here’s a version that gives the assistant enough to work with:
See how the prompt fits together.
Each part gives the assistant a different piece of the brief.
- TaskThe job you want done
- ContextThe facts it needs
- FormatThe shape of the answer
- ConstraintsThe boundaries to respect
Write a reminder. It’s for our reading club, meeting on Saturday at 3pm in the community hall. Ask everyone to bring a book to discuss. Make it a WhatsApp message. Keep it friendly and under 60 words. Don’t add unconfirmed details.
A task, the right facts, a format and a few limits. Notice that the whole prompt still reads like an ordinary request.
Hi everyone! A quick reminder that our reading club meets this Saturday at 3pm in the community hall. Please bring a book you’d like to discuss. See you there!
What makes this version useful?
It names the right time and place, includes the book request, and stays under 60 words. It doesn’t invent refreshments or a ticket price. You can check all of that against the notes above.
Different wording could be just as good. The aim is a message that does the job, not a perfect match to this sample.
One detail has changed.
The meeting will now start at 4pm. The place and the request to bring a book stay the same. You haven’t arranged any refreshments.
- Change the original prompt to use the new time.
- Try it in an assistant you already use, or write the reminder yourself.
- Keep the result nearby. You’ll check it in the next section.
No assistant open? Use this deliberately flawed response for the checking exercise:
Hi everyone! Join us this Saturday at 3pm in the community hall. Bring a book to discuss, and enjoy the free refreshments we’ve arranged. See you there!
Find the two details you would change. What in the notes tells you they’re wrong?
You can jot your answer down, or just say it to yourself. Then open the worked answer below.
Show the two problems and a corrected version
- The time is wrong. It should be 4pm, not 3pm.
- The refreshments are invented. Nothing in the confirmed details promises food or drink.
A corrected version could be:
Hi everyone! Our reading club meets this Saturday at 4pm in the community hall. Please bring a book you’d like to discuss. See you there!
It keeps the useful parts and changes only what needs fixing. Your version can sound different and still meet the brief.
Ask for a specific revision
“Make it better” leaves a lot to guess. Tell the assistant exactly what needs fixing:
Please revise the reminder. The meeting is at 4pm, not 3pm. Remove the refreshments, because I haven’t confirmed any. Keep the community hall, the request to bring a book, and the under-60-word limit.
Read the revised answer again. Asking for a correction doesn’t guarantee the correction happened.
Would you feel ready to send it?
Compare your reminder with the confirmed notes, rather than judging it only by how polished it sounds.
These ticks are just for your own review. They aren’t a score and aren’t saved when you leave or reload.
If a box doesn’t fit, revise that part and check again. If all four fit, you’ve completed the exercise. You have a message that meets the request—and you know why it works.
Don’t confuse fluent with correct.
The practice response sounded friendly. It was still wrong about the time and the refreshments. That’s why checking is part of the task, not an extra step for people who are “good at AI.”
Two other things to watch for
Too many changes at once. If you change the audience, tone, length and facts together, it’s harder to tell what helped. Start with the most important correction.
Adding private information unnecessarily. A group reminder doesn’t need anyone’s phone number or personal records. Share only what the task needs.
Be clear about what you need.
Be curious about what comes back.
This is the 4Ds in practice: decide what to delegate, describe the task, discern whether the answer works, and use it with diligence. Revisit the four skills.
Make the good prompt reusable.
Comfortable with the exercise? Try turning your prompt into a template, then see where it needs adjusting.
Try the template challengeOptional challenge. Come back whenever you’re ready.
Replace the bracketed parts below with fictional details for a different event.
Write a [tone] message for [audience] about [event]. Use these confirmed details: [day/date, time, place]. Ask people to [action]. Keep it under [number] words, suitable for [channel]. Don’t add details I haven’t provided. If something essential is missing, ask me before drafting.
- Try a reading club, a community clean-up and a team meeting.
- For each result, check the facts, requested action, tone and length.
- Leave out the time in one test. Did the assistant ask for it, or invent one?
- Change one line of the template if needed, then try again.
What a useful result looks like
All three messages fit their own facts and audience. When a necessary detail is missing, the assistant asks instead of guessing. If it doesn’t, you catch that before using the message.
Keep one successful prompt and a short note about what you changed. A reusable prompt is a starting point you still review, not a guarantee.
You’ve asked.
You’ve checked.
You’ve improved it.
Try the same approach on a small task of your own: a reminder, a checklist, or an explanation. Choose something where you can check the answer.
Written for Wunmi’s AI Starting Point. Examples are fictional and prepared for teaching; no AI service runs on this page. The 4Ds are credited on Start Here.