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Module
Module 2 of 4Lesson 3 of 5~15 min

Describing the task in a structured prompt

A structured prompt gets you a usable deliverable on the first try, where a vague request produces generic text you end up rewriting. You learn to phrase a request to AI as a real work brief, cutting down the back-and-forth and getting a result you can stand behind in front of your team.

Take this lesson: your first course is freeSee the full syllabus

Lesson objective

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to write a prompt that describes the expected deliverable, process and quality bar, in separate blocks (role, context, task, data, format, criteria), and explain what each block contributes.

Topics covered

  • structured prompt
  • prompt structure
  • writing a prompt
  • prompt engineering
  • AI brief

In the glossary

Full glossary

Where it fits

Delegate, describe, verify

How do you get a reliable result from generative AI, and know when not to trust it?

Lessons in this module

  1. Choosing what to hand over to AI
  2. Understanding what an LLM does when you prompt it
  3. Describing the task in a structured prompt (this lesson)
  4. Four techniques that change the result
  5. Checking and iterating with discernment

What you will learn in this module

This lesson is part of the course Prompting for Product Managers: delegate, describe, verify

  • Decide, for a task in your product cycle, whether to hand it to AI, in which mode (automation, augmentation, agent), and what you keep.
  • Explain how an LLM behaves (prediction, dated knowledge, working memory, instruction following) to anticipate its mistakes and pick the right fix.
  • Write a prompt that describes the deliverable, the process and the quality bar, with context, delimited data and examples when needed.
  • Evaluate an AI output (content, process, behavior) against explicit criteria, then improve it through targeted iterations.

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