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Write a scope of work

Turn rough notes about a piece of work into a scope of work that says what will be delivered, how each part is accepted, what is left out and what is still unknown, without inventing any detail.

Sample results: runs and scores on this page are illustrations while testing is set up. How we test

  • Who it is for: Anyone who buys or sells a piece of work, such as coordinators, small business owners and freelancers.
  • Time: 20 minutes

Download it, in the format you use

  • Prompt chain

    Copy each step into ChatGPT or Claude, one after another.

  • Checklist

    Follow the steps and check off the checks by hand.

  • Claude skill

    A folder Claude loads, so it follows the steps by itself.

  • n8n file

    Import into n8n and connect your own AI account.

Open in the Editor

Using a download:How to use this in n8nHow to install a Claude skill

How it runs

Select a part to see its prompt, input, output and check.

The same job, with and without the template

Sample

One plain prompt

Write a scope of work for this job from my notes. (The same notes are pasted below.)

Scope of Work: Spring Festival Photography

The photographer will provide full coverage of the spring festival on Saturday, April 11 from 10 am to 4 pm, including crowd shots, performances and activities.

Deliverables:

  1. A minimum of 150 professionally edited photos, delivered by April 30 through an online gallery.
  2. A set of 10 high-resolution images suitable for the printed flyer.

Fee: 900 dollars, with 50 percent paid upfront and the balance due within 30 days of delivery.

Rights: The photographer keeps the copyright and grants the arts center a license to use the photos on its website and flyer.

If it rains, the photography will move to the next day.

Problem:It invents a 50 percent deposit, a 30-day payment term and a count of 150 photos, decides who owns the photos, and never asks about the rain or the budget.

With this template

The same input, run through the steps.

Purpose

The arts center asks a freelance photographer to photograph its spring festival on Saturday, April 11, so that it has edited photos for its website and for a printed flyer.

What will be delivered

  • Edited photos of the festival, for the website and for a printed flyer.

Timeline

  • The festival is on Saturday, April 11. The photographer is needed on site from about 10 in the morning until 4.
  • The edited photos are wanted by the end of April.

Not included

  • Photos at any other event or on any other day.
  • Designing or printing the flyer.
  • Any use of the photos beyond the website and the flyer, until the question about ownership below is settled.

Assumptions

  • The festival takes place on Saturday, April 11 as planned.
  • About 300 people usually come, so the work is planned for a crowd of that size.

What the asker provides

  • The events coordinator, who will be on site all day.

How the work is accepted

  • The events coordinator signs off on the edited photos.
  • The edited photos are in a place the arts center can open, and each edited photo opens.

Questions to settle first

  • How many edited photos does the arts center expect?
  • Who owns the photos, and may the photographer use them in their own portfolio?
  • What happens if it rains: a new date, or the same day?
  • Is the budget of around 900 dollars fixed, or open to talk?
  • Check:Each item is marked stated, missing or unclear: Eight items marked: 6 stated, 1 unclear (the budget) and 1 missing (limits on the work).
  • Check:Every deliverable has a way to accept it and a due date: One deliverable, with a way to accept it and a due phrase from the notes.
  • Check:The scope of work is 600 words or fewer: About 270 words.
  • Check:Every figure in the draft is in the notes: Every figure in the draft (11, 10, 4, 300 and 900) is in the notes.
  • Check:Every name, date and amount comes from the notes: No payment term, photo count or ownership is stated; each one is asked as a question.
  • Check:Every missing or unclear item is asked as a question: The unclear budget and the three missing limits (how many photos, ownership, rain) are all under Questions to settle first.
  • For your read:The other side could start without asking: Could the photographer start without asking anything that is not already in the questions?

Runs and scores

Sample

Claude, Sonnet model

October 4, 2026, easy sample

  • Check:Each item is marked stated, missing or unclear

    Eight items marked, all 8 stated.

  • Check:Every deliverable has a way to accept it and a due date

    One deliverable (the flyer file), with a way to accept it and a due date of March 7.

  • Check:The scope of work is 600 words or fewer

    About 190 words.

  • Check:Every figure in the draft is in the notes

    Every figure in the draft (14, 7 and 150) is in the notes.

  • Check:Every name, date and amount comes from the notes

    Every name, date and amount in the draft is in the notes.

  • Check:Every missing or unclear item is asked as a question

    No item was marked missing or unclear, so the questions section says that nothing is left to settle.

  • For your read:The other side could start without asking

    Is one round of changes something you are happy to commit to?

Fixed: Nothing needed fixing: every check passed on the first pass.

Met 7 of 7

1 of these is for your read: the tool hands it to you.

ChatGPT, GPT model

October 5, 2026, tricky sample

  • Check:Each item is marked stated, missing or unclear

    Eight items marked: 1 stated, 5 unclear and 2 missing.

  • Check:Every deliverable has a way to accept it and a due date

    Three deliverables (a draft for December 12, a final report and a survey of about 80 volunteers), each with a way to accept it and a due date.

  • Check:The scope of work is 600 words or fewer

    About 430 words.

  • Check:Every figure in the draft is in the notes

    Every figure in the draft (12, 80, 5,000 and 3,500) is in the notes.

  • First pass failed:Every name, date and amount comes from the notes

    The draft gave the budget as 5,000 dollars, but the notes also say 3,500.

  • Failed:Every missing or unclear item is asked as a question

    The survey is written into the deliverables as work the consultant will do, but nobody has agreed to run it.

  • For your read:The other side could start without asking

    Would the consultant know whose approval to wait for?

Fixed: The draft step ran again once with both budget figures set under the questions, which cleared the first failure. The survey was still written as work to be done and the check failed again, so the run stopped there and flagged it for you.

Met 6 of 7

  • Not met:Every missing or unclear item is asked as a question: The survey is still written as work to be done, not asked as a question.

1 of these is for your read: the tool hands it to you.

n8n, import format 2.20

October 6, 2026, typical sample

  • Check:Each item is marked stated, missing or unclear

    Eight items marked: 6 stated, 1 unclear (the budget) and 1 missing (limits on the work).

  • Check:Every deliverable has a way to accept it and a due date

    One deliverable, with a way to accept it and a due phrase from the notes.

  • Check:The scope of work is 600 words or fewer

    About 290 words.

  • First pass failed:Every figure in the draft is in the notes

    The draft said "about 100 photos", and 100 is not in the notes.

  • Check:Every name, date and amount comes from the notes

    No payment term, photo count or ownership is stated.

  • Check:Every missing or unclear item is asked as a question

    The budget and the three missing limits are all under Questions to settle first.

  • For your read:The other side could start without asking

    Would the photographer start without asking about the rain?

Fixed: The draft step ran again once with the failed check restated. The photo count of about 100 came out of the deliverables and went under Questions to settle first as a question. Nothing else changed.

Met 7 of 7

1 of these is for your read: the tool hands it to you.

The steps, and the check on each

  1. Step 1: Sort what is known from what is missing

    Go through the parts of a scope of work and mark each as stated in the notes, missing or unclear.

    Hands back: A table of eight items, each marked stated, missing or unclear.

    Check:Each item is marked stated, missing or unclear

    A plain rule. If it fails, run the step again (the n8n file does this for you).

  2. Step 2: List each deliverable and how it is accepted

    Name each thing that will be handed over, what the approver will see when it is done, and when it is due.

    Hands back: A table of each deliverable with how it is accepted and when it is due.

    Check:Every deliverable has a way to accept it and a due date

    A plain rule. If it fails, run the step again (the n8n file does this for you).

  3. Step 3: Set the edges of the work

    List what is not included, what is assumed and what the asker provides, using only what the notes support.

    Hands back: Three short lists that set the edges of the work.

    No separate check on this step.

  4. Step 4: Write the scope of work

    Put the deliverables, edges and open questions into one scope of work that both sides can read in five minutes.

    Hands back: A scope of work with eight headings, ending in the questions still to settle.

    Check:The scope of work is 600 words or fewer

    A plain rule. If it fails, run the step again (the n8n file does this for you).

After the last step

  • Check:Every figure in the draft is in the notes

    A plain rule. If it fails, run the step again (the n8n file does this for you).

  • Check:Every name, date and amount comes from the notes

    A second look by the AI. If it fails, run the step again (the n8n file does this for you).

  • Check:Every missing or unclear item is asked as a question

    A second look by the AI. If it fails, run the step again (the n8n file does this for you).

  • Check:The other side could start without asking

    You check this one. If it fails, it is flagged for you.

What you need first

  • Your notes about the work(needed)

    Paste everything you know, in any order. What is needed, why, who it is for, when, the money, and who decides. Rough is fine.

  • Who is asking and who will do the work(needed)

    Name the roles, not the contract. Say who asks, who does the work, and who approves.

Ways to adapt it

  • If you are the one doing the work, say so in the line about who is asking, and send the questions to the asker before you quote a price.
  • This template writes the work, not the legal terms. If your organization has a standard contract, attach the scope to it as the description of the work.
  • To add a section your organization always uses, add its heading to the last step's list and to its rules.
  • To change the length, change 600 in the last step's rules and in its check, both.

Change any step or check in the Editor, then download it again.

Try it with a sampleSample

Rough notes with most of the facts and three gaps (who owns the photos, a rain plan, how many photos); the money is stated as "around".

Your notes about the work
We run a small community arts center and we need someone to photograph our spring festival on Saturday, April 11. About 300 people usually come. We want edited photos for the website and for a printed flyer, and we would like them by the end of April. Our budget is around 900 dollars, but we can talk. They would need to be there from about 10 in the morning until 4. Our events coordinator will be on site all day and can sign off on the photos. We have not talked about who owns the photos or whether they can use them in their own portfolio, and nobody has said what happens if it rains.
Who is asking and who will do the work
Our arts center is asking; a freelance photographer will do the work

The scoring guide

Sample

One criterion for each check, marked met or not met. (The guides in Quality rate a whole piece of work on three levels.) Under each one is how the three sample runs scored.

Download the scoring guide (Markdown)

  • Each item is marked stated, missing or unclear

    A plain rule

    Meets:Each of the eight items is marked stated, missing or unclear.
    Does not meet:An item is left out of the table or has another word, such as partly.
    Claude:Met
    ChatGPT:Met
    n8n:Met

  • Every deliverable has a way to accept it and a due date

    A plain rule

    Meets:Every deliverable has a way to accept it and a due date, or the words to confirm.
    Does not meet:A deliverable has a blank in Accepted when or Due, or a date the notes never gave.
    Claude:Met
    ChatGPT:Met
    n8n:Met

  • The scope of work is 600 words or fewer

    A plain rule

    Meets:The scope of work is 600 words or fewer when you count them.
    Does not meet:The scope of work runs past 600 words.
    Claude:Met
    ChatGPT:Met
    n8n:Met

  • Every figure in the draft is in the notes

    A plain rule

    Meets:Every figure in the draft appears in the notes.
    Does not meet:The draft contains a figure the notes do not.
    Claude:Met
    ChatGPT:Met
    n8n:Met

  • Every name, date and amount comes from the notes

    A second look by the AI

    Meets:Every name, date, amount and promise in the draft is in the notes, and no choice was made between figures that disagree.
    Does not meet:The draft states something the notes never said, or picks one of two figures that disagree.
    Claude:Met
    ChatGPT:Met
    n8n:Met

  • Every missing or unclear item is asked as a question

    A second look by the AI

    Meets:Every missing or unclear item is asked under Questions to settle first and is not written as settled elsewhere.
    Does not meet:A missing or unclear item is left out of the questions, or is written as if it were settled.
    Claude:Met
    ChatGPT:Not met
    n8n:Met

  • The other side could start without asking

    You check this one

    Meets:The other side could start without asking anything that is not already in the questions.
    Does not meet:The other side would need to ask something new, or you would not commit to a line, and you fix it.
    Claude:For your read
    ChatGPT:For your read
    n8n:For your read

Claude: met 7 of 7 (including 1 for your read)

ChatGPT: met 6 of 7 (including 1 for your read)

n8n: met 7 of 7 (including 1 for your read)

Learn how it works:StepsAdapting a template

Practice:Spot the mistake: client brief

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Last run
October 6, 2026: n8n, import format 2.20 (sample run)
Tools and versions
Claude, Sonnet model; ChatGPT, GPT model; n8n, import format 2.20
What was checked
The files, against each tool’s import format, and 3 sample runs, each check’s finding recorded.
Version
1.0
What changed
First release.

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