11 min · Beginner
Bad Prompt, Good Prompt
The same client update fails in six words and works when the brief names audience, decision, format, and the assumption you were hiding.
Learning objectives
- Diagnose a short prompt for missing audience, missing decision, missing format, and a hidden assumption.
- Rewrite a six-word client update into a full RCTCO brief.
- Choose the stronger of two prompts and repair a weak one without adding a slogan.
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Why this matters
A short prompt feels fast, and it is fast to type. It is slow to repair, because Gemini fills every blank with a guess you did not choose. Learning to see the missing audience, the missing decision, the missing format, and the hidden assumption turns a rewrite into a diagnosis instead of a mood.
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Concept
The six-word prompt Write a project update for client looks harmless. It hides the usual gaps. Audience is missing, so the model does not know whether the reader is a busy owner or a technical lead. The decision is missing, so it cannot tell if you need a yes, a date, or only a status. The hidden assumption is that Gemini already knows the project, the slips, and what you promised last week. It does not.
Diagnose before you decorate. Read the prompt and ask four questions. Who is the reader, and what do they already know? What decision should the message unlock? What format will they actually read: a short email, a table, or five bullets with a cap? What am I assuming the model knows that I never typed? Missing audience, missing decision, missing format, and a hidden assumption are the four names to write in the margin.
The repair is not a longer cloud of adjectives. It is the same goal with the gaps filled. You are a freelance designer writing to a client who pays the invoices and skims email on a phone. The site move slipped by four days because the photo files arrived late. You need a decision: accept the new Friday date, or cut the gallery. Format: an email under 130 words, subject line included, no blame, no new promises.
Keep a four-line check on a sticky note until it is a habit. Audience: who reads this, and how much time do they have? Decision: what should they do after the last sentence? Format: what shape will you accept, with a length cap? Assumption: which facts did I forget to paste? Run that check on the six-word version and it fails every line. Run it on the full brief and each line has an answer you can point to.
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Real-world example
Six words beside a full brief
Mina is a freelance designer in Accra. The homepage move slipped because the client sent photos late. She needs the owner to accept Friday or agree to cut the gallery. Her first prompt is six words: Write a project update for client. It names the artifact and nobody else. A strong brief names her stance as a calm project partner, the reader as the owner who skims on a phone, the four-day slip, the late photos, and the decision. It also sets the format: subject line plus an email under 130 words, no blame, no new features. The hidden assumption in the short prompt is that the model saw the contract. It did not. Paste the facts. Do not ask the model to remember a project it was never shown.
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Gemini demonstration
A realistic exchange. Open Gemini beside this page and try a version with your own facts.
You
Write a project update for client
Gemini
Here is the draft that six-word brief produces, and it is the weak side of the pair. Subject: Project update. Hello, I hope you are well. Work on the project is moving forward and I will share more details soon. Please tell me if you need anything else from me. Thank you. That note could be sent by anyone, about any job, in any country. The audience is missing, so the voice flatters a stranger. The decision is missing, so there is no ask. The format is only an accident. The hidden assumption is that I already know the slip, the photos, and the Friday choice. I do not. Paste those facts if you want a note the owner can answer.
You
You are a calm project partner, not a salesperson. Context: I am a freelance designer in Accra. The reader is the client who pays the invoices and skims email on a phone. The homepage move slipped by four days because the photo files arrived late. I need a decision, not a status speech. Task: write the update. Constraints: under 130 words, subject line included, no blame, no new promises, plain English, and use only these facts. Output: an email the owner can answer with one choice, Friday with the full gallery, or the original day with the gallery cut.
Gemini
Strong side, using only the facts you just pasted. Subject: Homepage move, new date Friday, your decision. The photo files arrived late, so the homepage move slipped by four days. I can still deliver the full gallery on Friday, or I can ship on the original day if we cut the gallery. Please reply with one choice: Friday with the gallery, or the original day without it. I am not adding features, and I am not blaming your team. Weak side, from the six-word prompt, said only that work was moving forward and asked if you needed anything. One can be answered in a single reply. The other cannot. The difference is audience, decision, format, and the facts that were never in the short line.
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Prompt breakdown
The prompt
You are a calm project partner, not a salesperson. Context: I am a freelance designer in Accra. The reader is the client who pays the invoices and skims email on a phone. The homepage move slipped by four days because the photo files arrived late. I need a decision, not a status speech. Task: write the update. Constraints: under 130 words, subject line included, no blame, no new promises, plain English, and use only these facts. Output: an email the owner can answer with one choice, Friday with the full gallery, or the original day with the gallery cut.
- Role blocks a sales costume and sets a calm partner who respects the owner's time.
- Context supplies the city, the reader, the four-day slip, and the late photos, which the six-word prompt left as a hidden assumption.
- The task is one verb, write, aimed at a decision rather than a pile of extra strategy.
- Constraints and output make the email checkable: length, a subject line, no blame, and a single choice the owner can reply to.
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Common mistakes
Usually
Write a project update for client
Better
Write an email under 130 words to the owner in Accra. Ask them to choose Friday with the gallery or the original day without it. Use only the facts I paste.
Usually
Make the update engaging, premium, and unforgettable.
Better
Name the decision in the subject line, keep the body under 130 words, and do not add blame or new promises.
Usually
You know my project. Tell the client we are fine.
Better
Use only these facts: the photos arrived late, the move slipped four days, and I need a yes or a cut. If a fact is missing, write unknown.
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Practice exercise
Diagnose, then rewrite
Done when: You can point to audience, decision, format, and one pasted fact in the strong prompt, and you have both answers saved.
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Challenge
Put a real note beside its six-word twin
Take a real status note you owe a client, a teacher, or a teammate. First write a six-word version on purpose. Diagnose it with four labels: missing audience, missing decision, missing format, and hidden assumption. Rewrite it as a full brief with one verb, facts you can share, a length cap, and an output shape. Run both prompts. Place the answers side by side. Circle the sentence in the strong answer that the weak one could not produce, and name which label created it. Do not send either draft until you check the facts yourself.
Hint: If the strong answer still invents a cause, you left a hidden assumption in the brief. Paste the cause or write unknown.
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Key takeaways
- Write a project update for client is six words and four missing decisions.
- Diagnose missing audience, missing decision, missing format, and the hidden assumption before you add adjectives.
- The repair is the same goal with the facts, the reader, and the shape filled in.
- A side-by-side of the two answers shows which label actually changed the draft.
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