AI School Leadership Minute: Prompt Tweak That Makes AI Better

AI School Leadership Minute: Prompt Tweak That Makes AI Better
Put this at the bottom of your next ChatGPT or Gemini Prompt: “Before you do this, ask me a list of questions you need to know to do it perfectly. I will answer the questions. After I answer the questions, make the perfect X.” (Replace X with whatever you are making.)

Why it matters: Vague inputs lead to work you have to fix, which defeats the point. Most people get generic AI outputs because they do not provide AI with the context it needs to produce highly valuable outputs.

The tactic: Before AI produces anything, tell it to ask you questions it needs answers for to do it perfectly. Answer those questions before it writes the final version.

How to do it today:
1. Draft your normal prompt. Example: “Draft an email to staff explaining our new cell phone expectations starting next quarter.”
2. Add this to the bottom: “Before you do this, ask me a list of questions you need to know to make the perfect email. I will answer the questions. After I answer the questions, make the perfect email.”
3. Answer the questions it asks.

You’ll notice two things:
1) The output sounds like you and includes the information you want it to include.
2) You spend less time editing.

This works for: Anything that has nuance. Board reports, family newsletters, policy summaries, staff meeting agendas, difficult parent responses, etc.

To learning how to prompt AI in better ways,
William Grube
Founder, Gruvy Education

PS - Starting in March, I’m hosting a free 60‑minute monthly AI Lab for school leaders where we walk through 4-5 concrete (not surface-level) ways school leaders are using AI to save hours. If you’d like an invite and access to the recordings, add your name here. The strategies we will cover are based on our view of how AI is most effectively used across the over 300 schools we work with.

PPS - Here are some prompts you can use with the “ask me a list of questions” strategy.