Complete the Prompt Design Canvas

Unit ID: PAW-M12-U01 Estimated active time: 25-30 minutes

The canvas pulls the course together

Every module contributed a part. The canvas is where they sit on one page, for your chosen task.

The canvas

PROMPT DESIGN CANVAS — (task name)

TASK          what job is being done, in one sentence
DECISION      what the reader does after reading

AUDIENCE      who | knows | does not know | reads it where | acts how
CONTEXT       situation | known facts | constraints | sensitivity
SOURCE        what material is supplied, and its boundary markers

SUCCESS       three to six checkable criteria
FORMAT        structure, required sections, length
VOICE         sample or rules; what to match and what to ignore

RULES         include | avoid | preserve exactly
UNCERTAINTY   how gaps must be handled

REVIEW        who | against what | review level | time budget
GATES         privacy | stop conditions | named approver
RECORD        what is kept, and where

Fill it in this order

Task and decision first. Everything else follows from them, and a canvas filled bottom-up tends to describe the output you already imagined rather than the job.

If you cannot state the decision in one sentence, stop there — that is the real problem, and no prompt will solve it.

Expect it to be uneven

Some rows will be one line, some will be a paragraph. That is normal.

An entirely empty row is worth a second look, though. An empty SENSITIVITY row usually means the gate was not run rather than that there is nothing to protect.

Keep it to one page

If the canvas runs past a page, the task is probably two tasks.

Splitting is better than compressing, and each half will be easier to review and improve.

Mini practice

Fill the canvas completely for your chosen task.

Then ask a colleague to read it and tell you what the output will look like.

If their description does not match what you expect, the canvas is not finished.

Mark complete