Advanced Prompt Engineering

You've been using CRAFT for a month. Time to add some power moves to your prompting toolkit.

CHAIN-OF-THOUGHT PROMPTING: Instead of asking for the answer directly, ask the AI to think step by step. 'Walk me through your reasoning step by step before giving the final answer.' This dramatically improves accuracy on complex problems like financial analysis, project planning, and risk assessment.

FEW-SHOT PROMPTING: Give the AI examples of what you want before asking it to produce something. 'Here are three examples of the email style I want: [Example 1] [Example 2] [Example 3]. Now write a new email in this same style about [topic].' The AI learns the pattern from your examples.

SYSTEM PROMPTS / CUSTOM INSTRUCTIONS: Both ChatGPT and Claude let you set persistent instructions. 'I'm a construction project manager in Phoenix, AZ. I work on commercial renovation and ground-up development projects ranging from $2M-$20M. Always assume this context unless I specify otherwise.' Now every conversation starts with that context baked in.

ITERATIVE REFINEMENT: Don't try to get perfection in one prompt. Start broad, then narrow. 'Draft a project timeline' -> 'Now make it more detailed for the HVAC and electrical phases' -> 'Add dependencies between tasks' -> 'Format it as a Gantt chart description I can plug into a project management tool.' Each step builds on the last.

This week: complete the AWS Foundations of Prompt Engineering course (free, 4 hours on AWS Skill Builder) and the Anthropic Prompt Engineering course (free, 2-4 hours on docs.anthropic.com). These go deeper than anything you've done so far.