Ways of Working - Pocket Cheatsheet (Build-a-Skill)
Print this one page and pin it next to your screen. Three habits, plain examples, nothing technical. Full source and all five ways: ways-of-working.md.
The day teaches all five ways. For non-technical work - status updates, triage, summaries, drafts - these three carry the load. Get these right and the rest follow.
1. Describe first - say what “good” looks like before you ask
Decide the shape of the answer before you prompt. If you can’t describe it, you’re not ready to generate it. (Way #1)
| 👍 Looks like | 👎 Not yet |
|---|---|
| ”Give me a 4-column table: Summary, Decision, Risk (Red/Amber/Green), Action (owner + due). Max 8 rows. Factual tone." | "Summarise this for me." |
| "A 3-bullet update for the steering group, plain English, no jargon, under 80 words." | "Make this sound good." |
| "Rewrite as a polite chase email to a supplier, two short paragraphs." | "Reply to this.” |
Try it: before your next prompt, write one sentence describing the output. Paste that sentence into the prompt.
2. A human signs it - AI drafts, you review and own it
Nothing leaves your hands unread. The AI is a fast assistant, not the approver - your name is on the output. (Way #2)
| 👍 Looks like | 👎 Not yet |
|---|---|
| You read every line and catch the date the AI invented. | You paste the AI’s text straight into the report. |
| You check the owner it assigned to each action is a real person. | You trust the figures because they “look right.” |
| You delete the confident-sounding sentence you can’t verify. | You forward it as “the system’s analysis.” |
The 30-second habit: before you trust any AI output, check the three things it most loves to invent - dates, owners, and numbers. Fix at least one. There’s almost always one.
3. Mind the data - treat every prompt like a public postcard
Not a sealed envelope. No secrets, no client data, no PII, no confidential figures. Anonymise first. When in doubt, leave it out. (Way #3)
| Before you paste | Swap it for |
|---|---|
| Real person’s name | Person A / Person B |
| Client or supplier name | Client 1 / Vendor 1 |
| Confidential budget or figure | [REMOVED] or a rounded placeholder |
| ID numbers, account refs, emails | Strip them out entirely |
| 👍 Looks like | 👎 Not yet |
|---|---|
| ”Person A flagged a delay on the Client 1 contract." | "Jane flagged a delay on the Acme £400k contract.” |
| You scrub names from the notes, then paste. | You paste the whole email thread, signatures and all. |
The rule of thumb: if you wouldn’t write it on a postcard, don’t paste it into a chatbot.
Carry these into the template
Each of these three is wired into the SKILL-template.md:
- Describe first → you write the Output section before the prompt.
- Human signs it → the Guardrails section names what to double-check.
- Mind the data → the PRIVACY CHECK sits inside Inputs.
Want the other two? Way #4 - small steps (build one instruction at a time) and Way #5 - keep it simple, write down the why (save it where the team can find it). Full set: ways-of-working.md.
Downloads for this session
Grab the templates and sample files used here.