The prompt
Score 10 of 10, Excellent
Use it when You need a single page people can keep beside them while doing a task at work.
- {{users}}
- {{task_name}}
- {{source_procedure}}
- {{common_mistakes}}
- {{format_details}}
- {{help_contact}}
Full prompt and why it works
Prompt
Turn the procedure below into a one-page job aid for {{users}}, to keep beside them while they {{task_name}}. A job aid is a memory prompt, not training: someone who has done the task before should be able to glance at it mid-task and get the next step right. The procedure or notes: """ {{source_procedure}} """ Common mistakes people make with this task: """ {{common_mistakes}} """ How it will be used: {{format_details}} Who to ask for help: {{help_contact}} Format: 1. A title that names the task, and one line saying when to use this. 2. Numbered steps, no more than 12, each starting with a verb and containing one action. Put on-screen labels, buttons and field names in bold, exactly as the procedure writes them. For example: "3. Click **Submit for approval**, then check that the status shows **Pending**." The example shows the form only. 3. Decision points as short "If..., then..." lines, or a small table when there are more than two outcomes. 4. A short "Watch out" list with up to three of the common mistakes, each naming the step it belongs to. 5. A "Need help?" line with the contact. The whole thing must fit on one printed page: under 250 words. No paragraphs, no background and no reasons, unless a step is unsafe or costly to get wrong without one. Rules: - Use only the procedure. Do not add steps, settings, shortcuts or safety rules that are not in it. - Keep every safety warning in the procedure, and put it before the step it applies to, not after. - Do not rename buttons or screens, even if their names are awkward. If the procedure skips a step, gives steps in an order that cannot work, or is unclear, do not guess: write the job aid from what is clear and list your questions for the process owner below the page, separate from it.
Variables
- {{users}}
- Who uses it and where, for example "warehouse staff at the packing bench".
- {{task_name}}
- The task, phrased as an action, for example "process a customer return".
- {{source_procedure}}
- The procedure, standard operating procedure or your own notes on the steps.
- {{common_mistakes}}
- Errors people make with this task. Write "none" if you do not know of any.
- {{format_details}}
- How the page will be used, for example "printed on letter paper and laminated" or "pinned on a second screen".
- {{help_contact}}
- Who to ask, for example "the shift lead" or a help channel.
Why it works
- Length. One printed page, under 250 words and no more than 12 steps, is what makes a job aid usable mid-task rather than one more document to read.
- What to avoid. It adds no steps or shortcuts, keeps every safety warning before its step, and copies button names exactly, so the page matches the screen.
- If unsure. Gaps and impossible step orders become questions for the process owner, kept off the page, so nobody follows a guessed step.