Practice: Convert a Messy Request Into a Structured Output Prompt

Unit ID: PAW-M05-U05 Estimated active time: 25-30 minutes

What you are producing

One vague request, rewritten as a structured output prompt, with both outputs kept for comparison.

Start with something genuinely vague

Use a real one if you have it. Something like:

> Can you help me with the supplier thing? We need to decide soon.

Do not tidy it before you start. The point is to see how much of the improvement comes from structure rather than wording.

Work through the four decisions

CONVERSION WORKSHEET

1. What decision does the reader make after reading this?
2. Which format follows from that decision?
3. What are the named slots -- columns, steps, sections?
4. What must NOT be invented, and what should happen to gaps instead?

Then write:
   - the output specification
   - the closing sections (assumptions, unknowns, not covered)

Run both versions

Send the original vague request and your structured version.

Keep both outputs side by side.

Compare on four things

• Completeness — what appears in one and not the other.
• Checkability — how long it takes to verify each.
• Invented content — count the claims you did not supply.
• Usefulness — which one you could act on today.

Write one line on each.

What to keep

Save the worksheet, both prompts, and the comparison.

If the structured version was better, the output specification is now a reusable pattern. Module 9 collects these; Module 12 packages one properly.

Mark complete