LESSON 4 OF 6
Package a job you repeat
BY THE END OF THIS LESSON
Turn a task you do the same way every time into something reusable.
The prompt you keep rewriting
- Written five times, slightly differently
- The fifth was worse than the second
- That is the candidate
There is usually one prompt you have written five times, slightly differently, and the fifth version was worse than the second. Each rewrite loses a constraint you had learned to include.
That is the candidate. Not the most interesting job — the most repeated one.
What goes inside
Instructions — the role, the constraints, the format, and what it must never do. This is the part you stop retyping.
Reference files — the material it should always work from: the style guide, the product facts, the examples of good output.
An opening question — what it should ask for before it starts, so a colleague who has never used it still supplies the right input.
Test it like something you will hand over
- Safe: A typical case
- Safe: An awkward one
- Check this: One it should refuse or flag
Run it on three inputs before you rely on it: a typical case, an awkward one, and one it should refuse or flag.
The third matters most. A tool that confidently handles input it should have questioned will do that quietly for months, and you will only find out downstream — usually from whoever received the output.
WORKED EXAMPLE
A PROMPT IN A NOTE
Summarise this call. Focus on decisions and owners. Bullets.
CONFIGURED ONCE
Instructions: You turn internal call transcripts into notes for people who did not attend. Always produce: decisions made, owner for each, questions left open, and anything stated as fact that needs checking. Never invent an owner. If nobody was named, write "no owner named". Opening question: ask for the transcript and who the notes are for.
The note version depends on remembering to include "decisions and owners" every time, and on nobody else needing to run it. The configured version keeps the constraint that matters — never invent an owner — and a colleague can use it without being told how.
YOUR TURN
Draft the instructions for the job you repeat most.
RUN THIS
I want to package a job I do repeatedly: [describe it in one line]. Write the instructions for it. Include the role, what it must always produce, what it must never do, and the question it should ask before starting. Then list the three test inputs I should try before I trust it — including one it should refuse.
What a good result looks like
The "never do" line should name a specific failure you have actually seen, not a general caution. If the refusal test is vague, ask for a concrete input that should trigger it.
KNOWLEDGE CHECK
Answer all 3 correctly to complete this lesson.
1. Which job is the best candidate to package?
2. Why does the refusal test matter most?
3. What goes inside a custom GPT? Select every one.
Select every one that applies.
REMEMBER THIS
Package the job you repeat, not the one you find interesting — and test the case it should refuse.