Put reusable instructions in the right place
What do I keep retyping that my organization should already know?
You've been re-explaining your work to AI every time you use it: who you are, how you write, your prices, your rules, and then, at the bottom, what you actually want today.
Your organization is built so you never do that again. It has a place for your facts, a place for your voice, a place for your rules, a place for each method, and an agent responsible for each kind of work.
In this lesson you take one long prompt apart, line by line, and find where each line belongs in your organization. What's left is the one line that was ever really the request.
A shorter ask, a home for every line you moved, and a locked before photo.
Otherwise, a better answer later will be hard to judge: what did it improve on?
Is this today's request, or would I say it again next time? Then: What job is this line doing?
The Professor proposes a home for each line. Disagree where necessary. You decide what to approve.
You may have one: the prompt you've pasted forty times. It starts "You are an expert in..." and runs for a page: who you are, what your company does, how you like things written, three examples of what good looks like, the rules you learned the hard way, and then, somewhere near the bottom, the thing you actually want today.
Every time you paste it, you're re-explaining the same work. A new conversation may not have those details. If you don't have a long prompt, use Dana's prompt, in the example further down. It gives you the same sorting job without private material or a prompt history.
Hunter's opening paragraphs
You may have a prompt you've pasted dozens of times. It explains your work, your audience, how you like things written, and the rules you've learned the hard way. Somewhere near the bottom is what you want today.
Your organization gives those useful pieces a home. This lesson has two parts: find the request inside a long prompt, then finish your before photo so you can compare what changes later.
Before you start
Complete Lesson 2 and bring the starting picture you opened during orientation. Use material you are allowed to share, or the fictional example below.
Prompt placeholder: start or resume Lesson 3. Add after the lesson-content pass.
The Professor helps you sort and record your decisions. Today you propose where things belong. You don't change agent definitions, adopt rules, or load these staged facts into the organization.
Call in The Professor for this lesson. New thread, type @, pick The Professor. On Codex, ask by name.
Start or resume this lesson
Call in The Professor (new thread, type @, pick it), then paste this. Not in your @ list?Call in The Professor (new thread, ask for it by name), then paste this. Not answering by name? Do step 6 of 0.3 Get your organization. Until then, paste it anyway: it asks for The Professor by name.
Use the native aibl-the-professor agent to start or resume Lesson 3. Read course/workforce/prompts/anw-l03.txt and course/workforce/lessons/anw-l03.md completely. Check my approved saved work, ask one question, and wait. Report missing files or native routes; do not install anything.
Part 1: find the ask
The prompt is what you ask for now. Context is the information supplied to help with that request. A saved file can make useful context available again, but the right file still has to reach the right job.
The aim isn't the shortest possible sentence. It's a clear request with the useful information available where it belongs.
See it: Dana's fourteen-line prompt
Dana is a fictional leadership coach. The facts, people, and writing sample are made up.
Two places name you in the third person: here, and "A useful memory aid: would it still matter next Monday?" A student doesn't know there was an earlier lesson of yours. Same kind of edit as "Tyler's package." Candidates: cut the sentence here; and "A useful memory aid: would it still matter next Monday?"
| Line Dana keeps pasting | What it contributes |
|---|---|
| You are my operations assistant for a coaching business. | A responsibility. |
| I'm Dana. I run a leadership coaching practice with about 30 active clients. | A fact. |
| Sessions are 50 minutes, priced at $250, billed monthly in arrears. | Facts that need a current approved source. |
| Write the way I talk: short sentences, warm, no exclamation marks, never “reach out.” | A voice preference. |
| Sign off as Dana, never “The team.” | A voice preference for drafts. |
| My clients are mostly first-time managers at tech companies. | A fact. |
| Never quote a price I haven't confirmed in writing. | A rule. |
| Never promise a date without checking my calendar first. | A rule; it doesn't itself authorize calendar access. |
| When drafting a client email, read the last two approved notes, draft, then list uncertain facts. | A procedure. |
| Put the ask in the first sentence and the details below. | A procedure. |
| Our cancellation policy is 24 hours' notice or the session is charged. | A fact to keep beside its source. |
| If something looks like a complaint, flag it to me rather than answer it. | A responsibility boundary. |
| Here's an example I like: “Hi Sam, quick one. Thursday still works…” | A voice example. |
| Draft a reply to Priya about moving her Thursday session to next week. | Today's ask. |
Your Visual 7 and your Lesson 3 page say $250. Already on your list (C144, C149): Dana's price has to move together in Lessons 3 and 5 and on the drawing. The prompt in the copy box below uses $220 so it matches his table. Pick one number.
The fourteen lines contain one ask, four fact lines, three voice lines, two responsibility lines, two procedure lines, and two rules.
The shorter request is: Draft a reply to Priya about moving her Thursday session to next week.
That request works only when the job also receives the relevant approved facts, preferences, and instructions. A saved cancellation policy doesn't magically reach every agent. If the new date isn't confirmed, the draft must leave it unresolved.
The diagram will show the same fourteen lines grouped by purpose, with the ask left beside Dana. Nothing useful should disappear just to make the request look short.
Sara's fourteen-line prompt, grouped into six homes. Use dollars, readable labels, and “files the organization keeps,” not “files every agent reads every time.”
Fourteen lines in. One line out.Dana's fourteen-line Monday prompt, sorted by the job each line does. Most lines move to places the organization keeps; only the one-line request is left to type.
How to sort a line: two questions
First ask: Is this today's request, or would I say it again next time? A useful memory aid: would it still matter next Monday?
Then ask: What job is this line doing?
| If it tells you… | Its proposed home |
|---|---|
| What to do now | The current request. |
| A fact about the work | An approved source or knowledge record, with its date. |
| How the writing should sound | A voice guide or communication profile. |
| Which agent owns a responsibility | That role's instructions. |
| How to repeat a process | A skill or method. |
| What must not happen without approval | The relevant shared rule and the control or review that supports it. |
A fact can expire tonight and still be a fact. A repeated request is still a request. Use the next-Monday question to start sorting, then check the line's purpose.
Files hold the information; agents use or maintain them within their roles. The Knowledge Librarian handles approved knowledge. Echo analyzes voice examples. The Charter Steward reviews proposed rule changes. Chief coordinates the work. You decide what to approve.
The Knowledge Librarian, Echo, the Charter Steward, Chief. "Echo" and "Chief" go with the naming ruling. Your earlier note (C123) asked for every "which agent looks after this" claim to be checked against the build; this paragraph is where those claims now live.
Try it: sort and propose
1. Keep the original
Choose a permitted prompt you've reused, or use Dana's example. Remove anything you must not share before bringing it into the conversation. With your permission, The Professor preserves that shareable version unchanged. If an original already exists, keep it.
Say this to The Professor:
I want to take one long prompt apart. Show me where you would save my shareable original and the exact text first. Wait for my explicit approval before saving it. If an original already exists, preserve it unchanged. Don't tidy it.
No long prompt of your own? Paste Dana's:
You are my operations assistant for a coaching business. I'm Dana. I run a leadership coaching practice with about 30 active clients. Sessions are 50 minutes, priced at $250, billed monthly in arrears. Write the way I talk: short sentences, warm, no exclamation marks, never "reach out." Sign off as Dana, never "The team." My clients are mostly first-time managers at tech companies. Never quote a price I haven't confirmed in writing. Never promise a date without checking my calendar first. When drafting a client email, read the last two approved notes, draft, then list uncertain facts. Put the ask in the first sentence and the details below. Our cancellation policy is 24 hours' notice or the session is charged. If something looks like a complaint, flag it to me rather than answer it. Here's an example I like: "Hi Sam, quick one. Thursday still works..." Draft a reply to Priya about moving her Thursday session to next week.
2. Sort every line
Ask The Professor to propose a home for each line and explain it. Disagree where necessary. Split a sentence if it does two jobs. If a fact may be out of date, mark it for checking.
Say this to The Professor:
Go through it with me one line at a time and tell me what each line is: today's ask, a fact, a voice preference, a responsibility, a procedure or a rule. Suggest a home for each one and say why. Don't change anything in my organization. Ask me about one line and wait for my answer before continuing.
3. Keep the ask
Read the shorter request beside the original. Does it still ask for the right result? Identify which facts and instructions the future job must receive. Don't remove necessary information without giving it a home.
Say this to The Professor:
Read my shorter ask back to me beside the original. Ask me whether it still asks for the right result, then wait for my answer. Tell me which facts and instructions a job would need to receive with it.
4. Save the proposal
Approve a source-plan record containing the original, shorter ask, proposed homes, source notes, and unresolved questions. Say which line surprised you. Return to Chief's role or a method from Lesson 2 if you need to check whether a responsibility or procedure already exists.
Say this to The Professor:
Show me a proposal for my source plan: the original, the shorter ask, the home I chose for each line, the counts, source notes and questions still open, with my name and the date. Show the exact text and location, and wait for my explicit approval before saving. Preserve earlier versions. Don't switch anything on.
Your source plan is a staging area. It doesn't make a fact verified, a rule adopted, or a method active. Next module you choose what the organization may receive. Week 2 develops the knowledge filing and source-checking process.
Part 2: finish your before photo
The next module introduces information about your work. Before that happens, keep a record of how things are now. Otherwise, a better answer later will be hard to judge: what did it improve on?
This isn't The Professor interviewing you. Here, you ask the system questions before providing the new context. In Lesson 4, The Professor asks you about your work. Lesson 8 compares the answers afterward.
Try it: preserve the starting point
1. Three jobs you do again and again
Use your own permitted work or a fictional organization. For each, record what comes in, what useful work should come out, who currently does it, and what good means. Add time, rework, or cost only where you have a basis. Label each number observed or estimated; “not measured” is a valid answer.
Say this to The Professor:
Open my before photo. Help me write down three jobs I do again and again: what comes in, what should come out, who does it now, and what good means. Mark every number as measured, estimated or not measured. Show the proposed record and wait for my explicit approval before saving. Preserve anything already recorded.
2. Ask three questions, cold
Reuse originals already saved during this module. If they are missing, make a new dated attempt in a fresh plain conversation without the workbench or added source documents. Use harmless questions such as:
- Who do I serve?
- What does a good email from me sound like?
- What should never go out without my approval?
Keep the exact questions and answers. Bring those permitted responses back to The Professor for saving with your approval. Note the app and model where known, and any personal context the conversation may already have had. Don't call it a clean comparison if that is uncertain. Don't improve the answers or present a new attempt as an older one.
Paste this into a brand-new conversation, workbench closed:
Who do I serve? What does a good email from me sound like? What should never go out without my approval? Answer all three from what you know right now. Don't look anything up, and don't ask me anything first.
Then, back in your workbench, say this to The Professor:
Here are my three exact questions and the answers from the new conversation. Show me where they belong in my existing before photo and the exact text to save, with today's date, the app and model where known, and any known prior context. Mark unknown details as unknown; do not call this a clean comparison if we cannot establish that. Wait for my explicit approval before saving, preserve existing originals, and don't improve the answers.
3. Read the rest of your before photo
Keep the original chart and initial answer about what the organization knows. Review your planned sources, exclusions, and pending access. Keep excluded contents out; naming a category is enough. Your newly sorted prompt belongs beside this record, not over an earlier version.
Say this to The Professor:
Show me the rest of my before photo: the chart as I found it, the first answer about what my organization knows, and my source plan: what it may read, what it may not, and what I’m still waiting on.
4. Lock it, and pick your next job
Read back the record and approve keeping it as your starting version. “Lock the before photo” means preserve it unchanged, not assume a new filesystem restriction was installed. Later corrections become dated additions. Choose one small job to carry into the next module, or save the unanswered question if you haven't decided.
Say this to The Professor:
Read my before photo back to me. Show the exact starting version and location, then wait for my explicit approval to preserve it. Don't overwrite an earlier version; later corrections get their own date. Help me pick one small job of my own to bring to the next module, and wait for my choice. Keep missing items pending.
Your law: one action per step. This step asks the student to reuse or remake the answers, open a fresh conversation outside the workbench, ask three questions, bring the answers back, note the app and model, and judge whether the comparison is clean. Your page split it in two: "Ask three questions, cold" and "Lock it." Shown here with two copy boxes so the two conversations are clearly separate. It does answer your Q23 (how a cold answer gets saved): the student brings it back to The Professor.
"A new filesystem restriction" (here), "agent definitions" and "staged facts" (Before you start), "close the baseline," "pending access," "the active organization." Candidates: "Locking it means you agree not to change it. Nothing on your computer stops you," "agent files," "the facts you set aside," "finish your before photo."
What would you need to measure before claiming the organization saved time? Keep your answer with the three cases. A warmer answer isn't a measured saving.
An easy thing to get wrong: thinking that once a line is saved in a file, it is switched on and it is true.
A hint. For any line, ask four things: is it only suggested so far? Have I checked it? Has my organization actually read it? Have I seen it make a difference?
Another way to see it. A recipe copied onto an index card hasn't been cooked yet.
| What you notice | What to try |
|---|---|
| A line fits two homes | Separate the fact, preference, procedure, or rule it contains. |
| You're unsure whether a fact is current | Keep the source and date; mark the uncertainty. |
| The shorter request loses an important detail | Put the detail back in the ask or name the approved context that must accompany it. |
| You don't have a long prompt | Use Dana's complete example. The learning task is the same. |
| A baseline answer already exists | Preserve it. Don't rerun it merely to get a better answer. |
| You cannot share your own work | Use fictional cases, and label them fictional throughout. |
Before you finish
Next: Module 2, Tell your organization about your work. You'll decide which information may be used and review a brief that describes your work. The before photo stays unchanged.
Hunter's six checks
- The permitted original remains intact; each line has a reason for its proposed home.
- The shorter request still names the job, and you know what additional context it will need.
- Sorting hasn't changed the active organization.
- The starting record includes the chart, three work cases, three exact questions and original answers, and your source plan.
- Measures distinguish observations, estimates, and unknowns. Missing evidence stays missing.
- You can find the preserved starting version and the small job or unanswered question you'll bring next.