Give Background, Constraints, and Known Facts

Unit ID: PAW-M03-U02 Estimated active time: 20-25 minutes

Three things a prompt supplies

A prompt gives the tool three different kinds of input, and mixing them up is a common cause of weak output.

• Background — the situation. Why this task exists.
• Constraints — the rules the answer must obey. Length, tone, format, what to avoid.
• Known facts — the specific values you are supplying and the tool must not change.

Each is doing a different job. Background helps the tool judge relevance. Constraints shape the form. Known facts are the things it must not invent.

Mark known facts explicitly

The most useful habit in this unit is to label the facts you supply.

> Use only these figures: 240 enrolled, 186 completed, 12 withdrew. Do not add any other numbers.

That last sentence matters. Without it, a fourth figure often appears — a percentage, a comparison to last year — that reads as a fact and is not one.

A prompt with the three parts separated

BACKGROUND
We ran a six-week beginner course for the first time. The team wants a short
note for the next planning meeting.

KNOWN FACTS (do not add or change)
- 240 enrolled
- 186 completed
- 12 withdrew in week one
- feedback was collected from 94 learners

CONSTRAINTS
- under 200 words
- plain English, no marketing tone
- separate what the numbers show from what they do not
- do not estimate a completion rate for any group we did not measure

The last constraint is the one that prevents the most common failure: a confident sentence about a group the data never covered.

Constraints are easier to check than instructions

"Keep it short" cannot be reviewed. "Under 200 words" can.

"Be careful with the numbers" cannot be reviewed. "Use only these four figures" can.

When you write a constraint, ask whether a reader could tell in ten seconds whether it was met. If not, rewrite it.

Do not over-constrain

Twenty constraints will not produce a better answer than six. They compete with each other, and the tool will quietly drop some.

If a constraint list is getting long, that usually means the task is really two tasks. Splitting them is better than compressing them.

Mini practice

Take one request and write it in the three-part shape above.

Then count your constraints. If there are more than six, decide which two you would drop — and whether the task should be split instead.

Mark complete