Why Small Steps Work

One big prompt asks the AI to do every part of a job at once, and when the answer is wrong, it is hard to say why. Small steps give each part its own short prompt and a check right after it.

One big prompt

One prompt does every part at once. When the answer is wrong, nothing tells you which part went wrong.

Four Reasons Small Steps Work

1One job gets full attentionA prompt that asks for one thing is clear about what good looks like. A prompt with five jobs in it gets five half-done jobs back.
2A check has somewhere to standBetween two steps there is a result you can test: a list you can count, a table you can compare to the notes. One long answer has no such place.
3A failure points to one stepWhen the check after step 2 fails, you change step 2. With one big prompt, every fix is a guess at the whole thing.
4Steps can be reused and swappedA step that pulls out decisions works in many workflows. Change the reader in the last step and the rest stays the same.

Small Enough, or Split It?

For each step, decide whether it is one job or several jobs that need their own steps.

1
Pull out every decision in the meeting notes, with who made it.
2
Read the report, find the main points, check the numbers and write a summary for the board.
3
Rewrite this paragraph for a reader with no background in the subject.
4
Compare the three proposals, pick the best one and draft the email that tells the others.

0 of 4 answered.

The Same Job, Two Ways

Turn an hour of meeting notes into decisions, actions and open questions.

For each	One big prompt	Small steps
The prompt	One big prompt: One long prompt that asks for decisions, actions, owners, dates and open questions at once.	Small steps: Three short prompts: pull out the decisions, list the actions, note the open questions.
Where a check can stand	One big prompt: Only at the end, on one long answer.	Small steps: After each step: every decision quotes its note, every action has an owner and a date.
When something is wrong	One big prompt: You rewrite the whole prompt and hope.	Small steps: The failed check names the step, and you change that one prompt.
Next time	One big prompt: The same long prompt, pasted again.	Small steps: The decisions step works in other workflows too.

Go Deeper

Lesson 2: Steps, one job eachHow to split a job into steps, in the order the work happens.Steps, the parts guideWhat a step is, drawn, with a real template.The meeting notes templateThe workflow from the table above, ready to use.