Prompt engineering — talking to Claude to get excellence
🎯 Learning objective
Move from the "tossed-off prompt" to the structured brief. By the end of this module, you'll know how to frame a request that produces the right deliverable the first time, without dozens of back-and-forths. The prompt is the one 100%-free lever for multiplying the quality of your results.
Skills you'll gain
Building a complete prompt (role, context, task, format) · applying the 12 techniques that make 80% of the difference · drawing from a catalog of ready-to-use formulas · diagnosing why a response disappoints and fixing it.
Key concept — the anatomy of a good prompt
A prompt isn't a question, it's a brief. The same one you'd give a senior consultant. Four building blocks are enough; the first three alone account for most of the differences in quality.
The 12 techniques that make the difference
No need to know a hundred. These twelve levers cover most of the gains.
1 · Give a role
"Act as a lawyer specialized in GDPR." The role sets the vocabulary and the level of rigor.
2 · Be specific
"5 risks, ranked by financial impact" beats "tell me about the risks."
3 · Give the context
Audience, goal, constraints, what's already been tried. Claude doesn't read your mind.
4 · Impose a format
Table, ready-to-send email, 200 words, 3 bullets. Describe the output you expect.
5 · Show an example
A single good example ("few-shot") is worth ten lines of instructions.
6 · Ask it to think
"Reason step by step before concluding." Noticeably improves complex tasks.
7 · Break down the task
One request = one step. Chain them rather than piling everything into one monster prompt.
8 · Iterate
"Good, now make it more concise and add a key figure." The 2nd draft is often the right one.
9 · Let it question you
"Ask me the questions you're missing before you start." Claude clarifies instead of guessing.
10 · Ask for several options
"Propose 3 different angles, then recommend the best one."
11 · Set guardrails
"If a data point is missing, write [to verify] rather than making it up." Reduces hallucinations.
12 · Persist the context
Put your recurring rules in a Project or in Preferences, not in every chat.
Step-by-step demonstration — before / after
1
The weak prompt:"Give me a summary of this report." → Generic result, random length, unpredictable angle.
2
Add role + context:"Act as my chief of staff. This report is for my executive committee."
3
Specify task + format:"Summarize the decisions to make in 5 bullets, then list 3 risks with their impact. 200 words maximum."
4
Add a guardrail:"If a numerical data point is missing, flag it with [to confirm]." → A deliverable that's ready to present.
# The complete prompt, ready to copy
Act as my chief of staff. This report is for my executive committee.
Task: summarize the decisions to make in 5 bullets, then list 3 risks
with their estimated financial impact. Format: 200 words maximum.
Guardrail: if a numerical data point is missing, write [to confirm] — don't make anything up.
A catalog of ready-to-use prompts
Adapt the brackets […] to your situation. Organized by intent.
🧠 Explain & understand
Explain [topic] as if I had 15 minutes and no technical background.
What are the 3 points most people get wrong about [topic]?
Summarize this document in one sentence, then in a paragraph, then in 5 bullets.
⚖️ Think & decide
Play devil's advocate on this decision: [decision]. Where are my blind spots?
Compare [option A] and [option B] in a table: cost, risk, timeline, reversibility.
If you were in my shoes, what would you do — and what could make you change your mind?
✍️ Write & rephrase
Rewrite this text for a [executive committee / client / general] audience, tone [direct / warm].
Give me 3 versions of this hook, from the most understated to the most striking.
Make this paragraph 30% shorter without losing any information.
📧 Emails & communication
Draft a polite but firm reply to this email: [paste the email].
Turn these notes into a courteous follow-up email that still gets a reply.
Help me say no to [request] without straining the relationship.
💼 Work & productivity
Turn this brief into an action plan with owners and deadlines.
From these meeting notes, extract only the decisions and the action items.
Prepare 5 tough questions my Board might ask about [topic].
🦋 Recent models handle long briefs
With Opus 5 and Fable 5.1, you can hand off long tasks in a single brief ("audit this 80-page file, produce a summary, a risk table, and 3 recommendations"): the model stays coherent over time and self-corrects. The "one request = one step" reflex is still useful, but the ceiling on acceptable complexity has risen sharply.
🎯 Practical case — preparing an executive committee meeting in 1 prompt"Act as my chief of staff. From the file sales-Q1.xlsx, prepare a 1-page memo for my executive committee: 3 key figures, 2 alerts, 1 recommendation. Ask me your questions if you're missing an assumption, and flag any missing data with [to confirm]." — Role, context, task, format, guardrail, and clarification, in a single sentence.
🛠️ Your turn — 5 minutes
Take an email you received today. First ask "summarize". Then replay with role + context + task + format ("Act as my chief of staff… 5 bullets, 100 words").
Expected result : The second answer is directly reusable, without editing.
🧪 Exercise — Test what you've learned
A response from Claude disappoints you (too vague, wrong angle). What's the most effective reflex?
A. Ask the exact same question again, hoping for a better roll
B. Add the missing context and format, then iterate ("make it more concise, add a figure")
C. Switch tools — Claude isn't built for this task
Additional resources
Anthropic's official prompt engineering guide: docs.claude.com. To generate a structured prompt effortlessly, use the Magic Prompter artifact (module 08, Artifacts).
💡 Expert tips
→ Keep your 5 best prompts in a note: you'll replay them dozens of times.
→ When a prompt works really well, ask Claude: "Turn this prompt into a reusable template with [variables]."
→ For recurring tasks, don't re-prompt: create a Skill (module 11) or a Project.
→ The best prompt engineer is often Claude itself: "Improve this prompt before running it."
