Show one good example, and say exactly what to copy from it

You ask for "a short update in our usual style" and what comes back is cheerful, three paragraphs long and topped with a heading you never use. The helper did what you said. It just didn't know what "usual" meant, and you didn't know you hadn't said.

The quickest fix is rarely a longer description. It is one good example. A single real sample carries dozens of small decisions that are tedious to put into words: length, order, tone, how numbers are formatted, where the date goes. But an example on its own invites copying too much, so a good handoff pairs it with a note on what to take from it. Here is a way to do that:

1. Pick the best real example you have, not an average one. If your only example is a weak one, say so, and describe what you would change.
2. Strip out anything private or one-off, such as names, amounts and dates, and replace each with a plain placeholder in square brackets.
3. Label what to copy: the structure, the length, the order of points, the tone. One short line for each.
4. Label what to change: the content, the dates, the numbers and anything that belongs to the old situation. This line matters as much as the one before it.
5. Add one thing the example does not show, if there is one: "no headings", say, or "end with a next step".

The fourth step prevents the most common mistake with examples, which is last quarter's details turning up in this quarter's document. If the helper copies the old project name into the new report, you did not give an example. You gave a template and forgot to say so.

A second example that differs from the first in some visible way helps even more. Two samples let the helper work out which parts are fixed and which can vary, much as you would. A short "not like this" example with one line on why can be worth more than a paragraph of rules.

Finally, say in a sentence what makes the example good. "This one works because the first line gives the decision and everything after it is optional" tells the helper more about your taste than the example does alone. If you cannot say why it is good, that is worth finding out before you hand anything over.

Keep the example next to the task rather than buried in an earlier conversation. A handoff that can be understood without its history is a handoff that also works next month.

Octuo is a personal assistant and one starting point for work across AI, tools and specialist services. You can have it build small apps by describing them, on a Canvas that it can also see and operate, and the same idea applies there: when you describe an app, name something you already use and say which part to keep. Octuo is available for macOS.