Keep an Improvement Log
Unit ID: PAW-M07-U04 Estimated active time: 20-25 minutes
The same fixes, over and over
Without a record, you solve the same problem repeatedly. The invented figure, the dropped caveat, the tone that drifted — each gets fixed in the moment and forgotten.
A log turns a repeated fix into a permanent one.
Log the fix, not the incident
"Output was bad on Tuesday" is not useful.
What is useful is: what went wrong, what line fixed it, and whether that line belongs in the prompt permanently.
The log format
IMPROVEMENT LOG
Date Task What went wrong Fix that worked Keep?
---- -------------- ------------------------ ----------------------- -----
07-02 monthly summary invented a percentage "use only these four yes
figures; add no others"
07-09 reply template tone drifted on revision restate audience line yes
in every follow-up
07-16 supplier table missed the do-nothing "include change nothing yes
option as an option"
07-23 meeting notes summary added a cause source-bounded prompt yes
with BEGIN/END markersFour columns. The last one is what turns the log into better prompts rather than a diary.
Promote repeated fixes
When the same fix appears three times, it stops being a fix and becomes part of your standard prompt.
That is how a personal library gets good: not by writing better prompts first time, but by promoting what has already proved necessary.
Log the rejections too
Record outputs you rejected entirely, and why.
Those entries tell you which tasks this tool is not currently useful for — which is worth knowing, and easy to forget between attempts.
Mini practice
Start the log with the last three AI outputs you had to correct.
Fill all four columns for each.
If any fix appears twice already, add it to the relevant saved prompt today.