Embarrassing AI #55: My prompts got sloppy, and Claude noticed

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Like radioactive isotopes, routines have a half life. Unless maintained, they decay, becoming an increasingly shabby facsimile of its initially perky self.

A couple of weeks ago I was waxing poetic about how structured, well designed prompts give great results. I had just learned a framework for giving the 🤖 good instructions and was loving the results.

Since then I spent sometime working on building automations with AI components. To make these sing, the trick is to structure the instructions in HTML and JSON formats, because so much about getting an agent to work well is making sure it understands what it’s consuming and how you want it to output it.

But that’s a completely different paradigm than natural language prompting in a regular AI chat.

I was practicing a lot of HTML and JSON but as a result my regular prompts were getting increasingly sloppy as I used the framework less and less.

I only noticed because Claude was increasingly feeding me slop.

When the 🤖 gives me slop, there is only one reason.

Time for a refresher.

The abbreviation for the framework is GCAO. Goal, Context, Action, Output Format.

It makes the most sense when seen in an example. Here’s how I would ask the 🤖 about increasing my newsletter readership:

I want to double the readership to my newsletter about AI learning in the next four weeks. The newsletter publishes daily and currently has 20 readers. Give me a 4 week plan to double my readership. For each week provide the three most effective actions and explain how they work and why.

Try running this prompt and compare it to what you would get if you ask it:

How do I increase the readership of my newsletter.

I now have a plan to get to 40 readers by the end of Jan.

Tools I am using to fake being an expert.

1. Beehiiv (The Platform)

"I tried other platforms, but Beehiiv is the only one that makes growth feel like a game. It’s what runs this newsletter. The Deal: You get a free trial + 20% off (I get a commission to keep the lights on)."

2. Wispr Flow (The Time Saver)

"I hate typing. This tool turns my rambling voice notes into perfect text. It’s the only way I can write this much every day. The Deal: We both get a free month if you try it."

3. Emergent (The Coding Cheat)

"I am not a coder. Emergent is my 'vibe coding' partner that writes the messy parts for me. Essential if you want to build apps without a CS degree."

🧘‍♂ Last Word.

It takes more time than you think to build muscle memory. Skills, like muscles, atrophy without use.

Making daily progress,

P.S. Did I do something totally backwards today? Or do you have a better prompt for this? Hit reply and tell me. I’m here to learn just as much as you are. (I read every single email).