16 min · Power user
Six Briefs, Requirements, and Milestones
Specify all six master projects with a brief, five requirements, four milestones, and two starter prompts, then follow one step order from brief to revision.
Learning objectives
- Read a complete brief, requirements, milestones, and starter prompts for each project from A to F.
- Follow the step order: brief, inputs list, first artifact, review, revision.
- Start only the project your decision table already justified.
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Why this matters
This is the densest lesson in the course because each project is specified here, not waved aside. You get a brief, five requirements, four milestones, and two starter prompts for every option. The step order is brief, inputs list, first artifact, review against requirements, then revision. Pick one project and leave the other five on the page until that one has a revision.
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Concept
Project A, AI-powered business system. Build an operating page for one process you already run, such as client updates or a hiring shortlist. AI-powered means you use Gemini inside the work. It does not mean you train a model. You write the inputs, the prompt, and the human approval. A colleague should see what goes in, what must be checked, and how you know the week worked. If the file is private, fictionalize the names. Requirements: one live process, a named owner, a source log, human approval, and no private client data. Milestones: brief, one cycle, one fix, filed page. Prompts: Map this process into inputs, prompt, and approval. List only the defects in this cycle.
Project B, AI content business. Design a content operation for one audience and one offer, not a pile of posts. Define the audience job, one message, and three pieces that share that idea. Gemini drafts. A hostile edit hunts fluff and invented proof. You do the voice pass and a publish checklist. Show a week of work with no fake testimonials and no promised results. A practice niche is fine if you can check the facts. Requirements: one audience, one message, three linked pieces, a hostile edit, and a voice pass. Milestones: audience job, slate, edited draft, checklist. Prompts: Draft three pieces from this audience job only. Mark every claim that lacks a source.
Project C, Personal AI productivity system. Assemble a productivity page you will open on Monday: a weekly plan, a meeting-note shape, an email check, and a decision log. Each piece has a prompt, a limit, and a human step. Aim for a record you can resume, not a prettier list. Leave out other people's private details. Use role titles where a real message would expose someone. You should rerun the week from the page, not from an old chat. Requirements: weekly plan, meeting shape, email check, decision log, and a privacy rule. Milestones: page draft, one real week, one cut prompt, restart test. Prompts: Plan this week from these constraints. Turn these notes into the meeting shape.
Project D, AI-powered research assistant workflow. Build a research workflow for one question you can answer with sources you can open. Produce ranked questions, a source pack you paste, a claim table, an uncertainty note, and a short brief. Gemini may structure what you provide. It may not invent a citation or a number. Show one place the model was unsure and what you did next. Someone else should repeat the job from your page alone. Requirements: one question, pasted sources, claim table, uncertainty note, and no invented citations. Milestones: questions, source pack, table, brief. Prompts: Rank the questions this decision needs. Build a claim table only from the notes I paste.
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Real-world example
Project E in full, and the order that governs A to F
Step order is the same on every project: write the brief, list the inputs, produce the first artifact, review it against the requirements, then revise once. Do not open on the artifact. Project E, Simple AI-powered application. Specify a simple application for one user, one job, and one main screen, such as a class checklist or a note-to-summary form. Write what data it may store and what it must never do. Gemini may draft interface words, plain-language logic, and a small code sketch. You review every claim about behavior. This is a specified workflow with optional code, not a trained model and not a funding pitch. Requirements: one user, one job, data allowed, data banned, and a review step. Milestones: brief, screen list, logic in prose, checked sketch. Prompts: List screens and banned data for this job. Review this sketch and do not add features. A lab teacher using this project starts with the ban list, not with code. The first artifact is the screen list. Logic in prose comes next. A code sketch is optional and only after that review. AI-powered still means Gemini inside the workflow. It does not mean you train a model.
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Gemini demonstration
A realistic exchange. Open Gemini beside this page and try a version with your own facts.
You
Give me Project F, the AI-powered marketing agency workflow, as a real brief. Do not point me elsewhere. I do not have a client win to report.
Gemini
Project F, AI-powered marketing agency workflow, is specified here in full. Design a campaign workflow for one fictional or permitted client: intake, audience job, message, channel plan, draft, hostile edit, and a client-ready note. Gemini prepares options. A human approves every claim. Include a step that rejects invented social proof. A colleague should be able to follow the path. Your prompts ask for options and checks, never for guaranteed reach, revenue, or a promise that the work will pay. If you cannot fill the intake with permitted or fictionalized facts, do not invent a client win to make the project look larger. A fabricated result is a failed project. Confirm the facts exist before you ask for the build.
You
Now give the five requirements, four milestones, and two starter prompts. Then apply the step order so I do not jump straight to a pile of posts.
Gemini
Requirements: permitted facts, audience job, message, human claim check, and no invented proof. Milestones: intake, message, hostile edit, client note. Prompts: Draft options from this intake only. Reject any claim that is not in the intake. Step order on this project: write that brief, list inputs such as the permitted intake and the offer, produce the first artifact as a message rather than a month of posts, review it against the five requirements, then revise once. The two starter prompts are enough to begin. I will not add a line that promises the work will pay, and I will not borrow proof from a campaign you did not run.
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Prompt breakdown
The prompt
Using only this brief and the inputs I paste, produce the first artifact. Then list which of the five requirements the artifact already meets and which it misses. Do not add facts, testimonials, or a new goal.
- It locks the model to the brief and the pasted inputs, which is the handoff the step order requires.
- The first artifact is requested alone, so the chat cannot skip ahead to a fake finished campaign.
- The requirement check makes the review stage explicit instead of a vague feeling that it looks done.
- The ban on new facts and testimonials protects Project F and Project B, where invented proof is the usual failure.
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Common mistakes
Usually
Skim the six names and invent the requirements later if the draft feels thin.
Better
Use the five requirements already written, and review the first artifact against them.
Usually
Start with code, a month of posts, or a full campaign before the brief and the inputs list exist.
Better
Brief, inputs list, first artifact, review, then one revision.
Usually
Borrow a testimonial from a similar business so the agency project looks alive.
Better
Reject any claim that is not in the permitted intake.
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Practice exercise
Spec check on the project you chose
Done when: You have the spec, the inputs list, the first artifact, and a requirement-by-requirement mark, with no private data in the paste.
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Challenge
One project, one honest miss
Using only the project you chose, rewrite the starter brief in your own facts, keeping it tight and checkable. Under it, list the inputs, name the first artifact, and star the requirement you are most likely to fail. Run one starter prompt and stop. In five lines, say which requirement the output missed and what the revision must change. Do not start a second project. If a fact is private, fictionalize it before it enters the prompt. A complete pass across all six is not the goal. A reviewed artifact on one project is.
Hint: If you cannot star a likely miss, you have not read the requirements. Pick the one your notes do not yet support.
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Key takeaways
- Every project from A to F has a brief, five requirements, four milestones, and two prompts.
- The step order is brief, inputs list, first artifact, review, revision.
- AI-powered still means Gemini inside the work, not a model you train.
- Finish one specified project. Do not sample all six.
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