1. Plan an agenda for a one-to-one
You manage a support team. Your weekly 30-minute one-to-one with a new agent is on Wednesday. They're in their third week, their reply times are good, and they've asked about learning the billing queue.
Done when your prompt covers background facts and length, and scores 3 or more out of 10. Edit the prompt below; the score changes as you type.
A hint
Give the AI what it can't know about this person and this week, then say how long the meeting runs and how many items you want.
Show one good answer
Make an agenda for my 30-minute weekly one-to-one on Wednesday with a new support agent in their third week. Their reply times are good, and they've asked about learning the billing queue. Give it four items with a time next to each, and leave the last 5 minutes for anything they want to raise.
It scores 3 out of 10. Yours does not need to look like it: any prompt that passes is right.
What changes. Instead of a generic list of check-in questions, you get four timed items that fit 30 minutes and start from this agent's real progress.
2. Turn scribbled call notes into something your manager can use
You were on a 40-minute call with IT about replacing your team's laptops. Your manager missed it and has to choose between two options by the 14th.
Done when your prompt covers what to make, who it's for and format, and scores 4 or more out of 10. Edit the prompt below; the score changes as you type.
A hint
Use a verb that names the job, say who will read the notes and what they'll decide, and describe the layout you want.
Show one good answer
Rewrite my notes from the IT call below for my manager, who missed the call and has to choose between the two laptop options by the 14th. Lay it out as two short bullet lists, one per option, with the price, delivery time and IT's view, then a final line with the deadline. """ laptop refresh call w IT. 9 laptops due for replacement (over 4 yrs old). option A: same model, $1,350 each, delivered in 2 wks. option B: lighter model, $1,520 each, 5 wks lead time, better battery. IT prefers B. old laptops wiped and recycled at no cost. need decision by the 14th to hold the quote. """
It scores 5 out of 10. Yours does not need to look like it: any prompt that passes is right.
What changes. The AI stops polishing your shorthand into a long paragraph and sets the two options side by side, so your manager can choose in a minute.
3. Summarize a recorded meeting for people who missed it
You're a product manager, and Tuesday's 50-minute roadmap review was recorded and transcribed. Six people on your team missed it and need the decisions, not the discussion. The first 15 minutes were small talk and a demo that didn't work.
Done when your prompt covers who it's for, length, what to avoid and what good looks like, and scores 6 or more out of 10. Edit the prompt below; the score changes as you type.
A hint
Say who the summary is for and what they need from it, then set a size, rule out the part of the meeting that doesn't matter, and say what a useful summary lets them do.
Show one good answer
Summarize the attached transcript of Tuesday's 50-minute roadmap review for my team. Six of them missed it and need the decisions and who owns each one, not the discussion. Keep it to 5 bullets at most. Skip the first 15 minutes, which were small talk and a demo that didn't work. A good summary lets someone who wasn't there act on the decisions without watching the recording.
It scores 7 out of 10. Yours does not need to look like it: any prompt that passes is right.
What changes. You get five decisions with owners instead of a blow-by-blow retelling, and the broken demo stays out of it.
4. Plan a meeting that ends in a decision
You're an HR manager. Next Thursday, five department heads meet for 40 minutes to choose between two hybrid-work policies: three office days a week for everyone, or two set days chosen by each team. The last meeting like this ended with no decision.
Done when your prompt covers background facts, length, format, what to avoid and what good looks like, and scores 6 or more out of 10. Edit the prompt below; the score changes as you type.
A hint
Give the meeting's length and the two options, ask for a layout with timings, rule out what wastes the time, and say what the meeting has to end with.
Show one good answer
Write an agenda for next Thursday's 40-minute meeting where five department heads will choose between two hybrid-work policies: three office days a week for everyone, or two set days chosen by each team. Put it in a table with columns for time, item and who leads it, and leave the last 10 minutes for the decision itself. Don't include a round of updates or a debate on whether we need a policy at all. A good agenda ends with one policy chosen, so every item should move the group toward that.
It scores 6 out of 10. Yours does not need to look like it: any prompt that passes is right.
What changes. You get a timed agenda that walks five people to a choice, instead of a list of discussion topics that runs over and decides nothing.
5. Write minutes in the format your team already uses
You take minutes for the monthly leadership meeting. Past minutes follow a fixed layout: a numbered item per topic, each with a Decision line and an Action line. AI drafts keep coming back as prose.
Done when your prompt covers what to make, background facts, format and an example, and scores 5 or more out of 10. Edit the prompt below; the score changes as you type.
A hint
Show the AI one item from past minutes, tell it to follow that layout, and say what to write when a topic has no action.
Show one good answer
Write up minutes from my notes below. Follow the format of our past minutes. Here is an example of one item from last month: """ 3. Pricing review Decision: Hold current prices until the March review. Action: CFO to model a 5% increase for the March meeting. """ Use a numbered item for each topic, each with a Decision line and an Action line. Where a topic has no action, write "Action: none". Notes: """ Leadership mtg Oct 7. Present: CEO, CFO, COO, head of sales. Q3 revenue $4.2m, 6% under plan. Agreed to pause hiring for 2 non-critical roles until January. Head of sales to bring revised Q4 forecast to Nov meeting. Office move: COO to get 3 quotes. Next meeting Nov 4. """
It scores 5 out of 10. Yours does not need to look like it: any prompt that passes is right.
What changes. The minutes come back in your house layout, item by item, instead of a prose summary someone has to reformat.
6. Prepare for a meeting with a client you've just inherited
You're an account manager taking over a client from a colleague who has left. Your first meeting with the client's operations director is on Monday. The handover notes cover the open issues but don't say when the contract ends.
Done when your prompt covers who it's for, background facts, length, what to avoid and if unsure, and scores 7 or more out of 10. Edit the prompt below; the score changes as you type.
A hint
Say what the brief is for and how long it should be, rule out the promise you can't make yet, and tell the AI what to do about the fact the notes leave out.
Show one good answer
Write a one-page brief to prepare me for my first meeting on Monday with a client I've taken over from a colleague who has left. I'll read it that morning, so I want to walk in knowing the open issues and how the client feels about us. Cover the account in 3 bullets, then each open issue with what I can say about it, then two questions to ask. Don't suggest dates for fixing the scanners, since support hasn't given one yet. The notes don't say when the contract ends. If something like that is missing, list it under "To find out" instead of guessing. Handover notes: """ Client: regional chain of 11 garden centers. Uses our stock system in all stores since 2022. Main contact: operations director. Open issues: barcode scanners in 2 stores drop connection; they asked for a quote on adding online orders. Relationship good but they felt ignored during the handover gap. Contract: not in my notes. """
It scores 8 out of 10. Yours does not need to look like it: any prompt that passes is right.
What changes. Instead of guessing a renewal date, the AI lists it as something to find out, so you don't walk in quoting a contract end that isn't real.
7. Plan a retrospective after a late launch
You lead a team of 9 that shipped a mobile app update 3 weeks late. You're running a 60-minute retrospective on Friday. People are tense, and you want honest input without it turning into blame.
Done when your prompt covers what to make, who it's for, background facts, length, format, what to avoid, what good looks like and if unsure, and scores 8 or more out of 10. Edit the prompt below; the score changes as you type.
A hint
Give the AI the length, the team and what went wrong, then the shape of the plan, what to steer clear of, what the session should end with and what to do if it needs to know more.
Show one good answer
Plan a 60-minute retrospective for my team of 9, who shipped our mobile app update 3 weeks late. We'll meet in person on Friday, with a whiteboard. Background: the delay came from a late design change and a testing backlog in the final two weeks. People are tense, and a couple of them already feel blamed. Give me the plan as a numbered list of 4 or 5 activities, each with its time and one sentence on how to run it. Avoid any activity that asks people to name who caused a problem, since the aim is to fix the process. A good plan ends with no more than three changes we agree to try on the next release, each with an owner. If you need something I haven't told you, such as whether the team has done retrospectives before, ask me before you write the plan.
It scores 10 out of 10. Yours does not need to look like it: any prompt that passes is right.
What changes. You get a timed plan that keeps the room on the process rather than on who to blame, and ends with a few changes that people own.
8. Lay out a meeting summary prompt for Claude
You use Claude to turn your call notes into a summary for your director. Your prompt has every piece it needs, written as labeled lines that suit any model. Anthropic's guidance for Claude favors each kind of content in its own XML tag, with the notes first.
Done when your prompt covers what to make, who it's for, background facts, length, format, what to avoid, what good looks like, an example, if unsure and layout, and scores 9 or more out of 10. Edit the prompt below; the score changes as you type.
A hint
Keep every instruction, but put the notes first in their own tag, then the task, the requirements and the example, each in a tag of its own.
Show one good answer
<notes> Pilot review with logistics client, 35 min. 30 drivers on the app since August. Average delivery logging time down from 6 min to 2 min. 4 drivers still use paper and say the app is slow in rural areas. Client wants offline mode before rolling out to all 120 drivers. Extending the pilot 3 months costs them $9,000 and us about $4,000 in support time. Their ops director is keen; finance is not yet convinced. </notes> <task> Summarize my notes above from today's pilot review call for my director, who will decide on Thursday whether we offer to extend the pilot. </task> <requirements> - Under 200 words. - Start with a one-line recommendation, then three bullets: what went well, the open problems and the cost of extending. - Leave out anything about other clients. - A good summary lets my director decide without asking me a follow-up question. - If the notes don't settle a point, such as when offline mode could be ready, say so instead of guessing. </requirements> <example> Open problem: 4 of 30 drivers still log deliveries on paper. </example>
It scores 10 out of 10. Yours does not need to look like it: any prompt that passes is right.
What changes. Claude reads the tagged notes as material and the tagged requirements as rules, so the summary follows each requirement instead of mixing them up.
More practice: emails, reports and summaries, customer support, sales and marketing, hr and people, spreadsheets and data, plans and projects. Or learn the checks in order in the prompt course.