The prompt
Score 10 of 10, Excellent
Use it when Some of your team's work only one person knows how to do, and you want a plan to spread that knowledge before someone is out sick or leaves.
- {{team}}
- {{task_list}}
- {{team_members}}
- {{time_budget}}
- {{upcoming_risks}}
- {{plan_length}}
Full prompt and why it works
Prompt
Help me plan cross-training for {{team}}, so that every critical task has at least two people who can do it and the team keeps running when someone is away or leaves. Our tasks and who can do each one today: """ {{task_list}} """ Team members and their current workload, by role: {{team_members}} Time we can spend on cross-training each week: {{time_budget}} Upcoming absences or risks, such as planned leave: {{upcoming_risks}} Produce: 1. A coverage table with the columns Task, How critical (high, medium or low, with the reason), People who can do it today, Single point of failure (yes or no). 2. Priorities: the tasks to cover first, ranked by how critical they are and how soon a gap is likely, with one line on why. 3. A plan for each priority task: who learns it, who teaches, how (shadowing, doing it with support, then alone), the documentation needed, and how we will know they can do it alone. 4. A schedule over {{plan_length}} that fits the time we can spend, as a table with the columns Week, Task, Learner, Teacher, Hours. 5. Risks to the plan, such as the expert having no time to teach, and what would help. A good plan covers the most dangerous single points of failure first and fits inside the time we actually have. For example, one line of the plan could read: "Month-end supplier reconciliation: the accounts lead teaches, the junior analyst learns; shadows in March, does it with a check in April, alone in May." This shows the form only; use our tasks and people. Spread the learning fairly and take workload into account, rather than loading the newest or least busy person by default. Do not assume anyone's skills beyond what the task list says. If the task list does not say who can do something, or how critical it is, mark it "[confirm]" rather than guessing. If the time budget is too small to cover the high-priority tasks within {{plan_length}}, say so and show what can be covered.
Variables
- {{team}}
- Your team, for example "the five-person finance operations team".
- {{task_list}}
- The team's recurring and critical tasks, with who can do each one today.
- {{team_members}}
- Each person's role and how loaded they are, for example "analyst, at capacity until June".
- {{time_budget}}
- Hours per week the team can give to cross-training, for example "4 hours across the team".
- {{upcoming_risks}}
- Planned leave, likely departures or other risks, or "none known".
- {{plan_length}}
- How long the plan runs, for example "the next 12 weeks".
Why it works
- What good looks like. The most dangerous single points of failure are covered first, and being able to do a task alone is defined for each one rather than assumed after a single shadowing session.
- Length. The schedule has to fit the hours you give it, and if it cannot cover the critical tasks it says so instead of overpromising.
- What to avoid. Learning is spread with workload in mind rather than landing on the newest person, and no one is credited with skills the task list does not show.