Want to transform your productivity at work using Gemini? I’m building a multi-week course with live online workshops to help you discover what’s possible, give you the skills to save 8 hours of busywork per week, and share my personal toolkit of template prompts and other tips. Click here to register your interest (I’ll be in touch with more details soon).
With generative AI tools like Gemini or ChatGPT, the quality of your input dictates the quality of your output. A more specific prompt will get a more specific response. But there’s a balance. If writing the perfect prompt takes longer than doing the task yourself, it’s pointless.
That’s where my little trick comes in. It uses the simple prompt framework I recommend (in this video), but means you can follow up with extra information only if Gemini needs it to do a good job.
Make Gemini interview you
You could spend ages providing all the detail upfront, or you can get Gemini to ask you for the information it needs to do the best job.
Write a prompt using the framework as usual. For example:
“Act as an expert product marketing manager. Draft a go-to-market launch plan for our new feature, ‘smart invoicing.’ We are targeting small business owners. Make it a structured outline for a Google Doc.”
Add the interview instruction. At the end of the prompt, add a line that forces Gemini to stop and request potentially missing details. For example:
"Before you generate the plan, ask me up to 3 questions so you can provide the best possible response."
Answer the questions.
Don’t worry about formatting, just drop in your answers. Bullet points or notes are fine. (Don’t forget you can save your fingers by clicking the microphone icon to dictate your response instead.)
An example of the questions Gemini might ask in this scenario.
Gemini will combine your original prompt with your new answers to generate a plan that is actually usable, rather than a generic template. Doing it this way means you don’t have to think of every possible eventuality in your prompt upfront, but still gives Gemini everything it needs to do a great job.
I’ve personally found this really helpful when I feel like there’s loads of context I need to provide but don’t have the time (or energy) to type everything in. Give it a go and let me know what you think.
See you in the next one!
Dean
