Be Clear and Direct

Claude has no idea what you want except what you literally tell it. Treat it like a bright new employee on their first day: the more exactly you explain the task, the better the result.

The golden rule of clear prompting

Before sending a prompt, imagine showing it to a colleague and asking them to follow it. Could they produce the result you want from your words alone? If a person would be confused, Claude is confused too. Rewrite until a stranger could follow it.

Example: the unwanted introduction

The course asks Claude for a “haiku” — that is simply a tiny Japanese-style poem of three short lines, nothing more. The poem itself is not the lesson. Watch what Claude adds around it — a polite introduction line you may not have wanted:

YOU WRITE

Write a haiku about robots.

CLAUDE ANSWERS

Here is a haiku about robots: Metal hands working, circuits humming through the night — dreams in binary.

The poem is fine, but perhaps you wanted only the poem — without the “Here is a haiku” opening line.

The fix is almost embarrassingly simple: ask for what you want.

YOU WRITE

Write a haiku about robots. Skip the preamble; go straight into the poem.

CLAUDE ANSWERS

Metal hands working, circuits humming through the night — dreams in binary.

Example: making Claude commit to an answer

Ask a debatable question, and Claude gives a careful, balanced reply instead of one answer:

YOU WRITE

Who is the best cricketer of all time?

CLAUDE ANSWERS

There is no single agreed answer — it depends on what you value. Sir Don Bradman is famous for his unmatched batting average, Sachin Tendulkar for his hundred international centuries, and Imran Khan for lifting his team as a complete all-rounder and captain. Each has a strong claim.

Balanced — but maybe useless if you wanted a decision. Again: just ask for one.

YOU WRITE

Who is the best cricketer of all time? Yes, there are differing opinions, but if you absolutely had to pick one player, who would it be?

CLAUDE ANSWERS

If I had to pick exactly one: Sir Don Bradman. A Test batting average of 99.94 — nearly forty runs above every other batsman in history — is a level of dominance no player in any era has come close to matching.

REMEMBER

Claude cannot read your mind. Say exactly what you want — the length, the tone, what to skip, whether to commit to one answer. If a colleague would be confused by your instruction, so is Claude.