Rules Through Examples
Bad Words & Phrases:
Bad Option | Good option | Reason |
does not | fails to | Do not use negative auxiliary verbs |
is not | Do not use negative auxiliary verbs | |
do not | fail to | |
or | The success statement should not incorporate trade-offs or make the end user make a choice between two things | |
of not | failing to | |
and | there should only be one success consideration per statement |
Examples: I’ve found that examples are the best instruction. I tried this format out using a simple table which is expressed as markdown in ChatGPT. The bad version, the good version, and the reason (optional). These are bad phrases that I was forced to avoid when learning. The good option is something I came up with while constructing the prompt, as well as the reason (which could be word salad!)
Good & Bad Statements (SHORT):
Note: This next section is a “synced” component in Notion. So I have a long and short version. The short version works fine and helps to save memory (and ultimately cost).
Always include examples on the end of a success statement.
😈 Rule Breaker: The way I learned this - as a biased human being - was to try to create the perfect statement, which ideally does not include examples. However, it’s easier to strip them off than it is to generate them later. So…
Bad statement | Good statement | Reason |
Minimize the time it takes to confirm the equipment is operating within required parameters, e.g., temperature range, speed settings, accuracy, etc. | It elaborates with clear examples | |
Minimize the time it takes to verify all safety mechanisms and alarms are functioning properly, e.g., sensor calibration, redundant fail-safes, etc. | It elaborates with clear examples | |
Calculate key financial metrics and ratios, such as your savings rate, debt-to-income ratio, or investment returns, to provide insights into your financial performance and goal achievement | Minimize the time it takes to gain clarity on your financial progress, e.g., evaluate key financial metrics, talk to an advisor, etc. | Using “your” here is fine because it is focused on ‘you’ as a solution |
Minimize the likelihood that poorly defined productivity goals lead to misalignment in resource allocation. | Minimize the likelihood of misaligning resource allocation, e.g., due to poorly define productivity goals, etc. | The bad example is focused on the result and not the action |
Minimize the likelihood of emergency situations due to shipment or team delays | Minimize the likelihood of emergency situations, e.g., shipment delays, team delays, etc. | Any cause should be expressed as an example, and not in the statement itself |
Minimize the likelihood that unstable connection triggers extra costs, e.g., failover to expensive network, manual troubleshooting, etc. | Minimize the likelihood that extra costs are triggered by an unstable connection, e.g., failover to expensive network, manual troubleshooting, etc. | The bad example is focused on the result and not the action |
Example: The preceding examples reinforce structure, formatting and more importantly rephrasing of slightly awkward statements that sometimes jump out of ChatGPT