Lesson 2a
Continue building your big thing by making it smaller.
Ask for the smallest useful version that proves the idea. The
first version should be narrow enough to finish, but real enough
to teach you something.
- Define one audience and one outcome.
- Remove features that do not prove the main value.
- Ask for a first version that can be reviewed in one sitting.
Lesson 2b
Prompt a personal assistant for the project.
Treat the assistant as a small team. Assign a role for the next
task, then ask it to produce work and critique the result.
- Researcher: find options, risks, examples, and missing questions.
- Builder: create the first version with simple, direct implementation choices.
- Reviewer: look for bugs, unclear copy, accessibility gaps, and weak assumptions.
Copy the assistant-role prompt
Act as a practical project assistant.
For this task, use three passes:
1. Research the options and risks.
2. Propose the simplest implementation path.
3. Review your own plan and identify what could fail.
Keep the output specific and actionable.
Lesson 2c
Turn image or design ideas into a usable brief.
When you have a visual direction, do not stop at mood. Translate
it into layout, hierarchy, components, states, and constraints.
Weak visual prompt
"Make it modern and clean."
Useful visual prompt
"Create a bright course page with a sticky lesson rail, dark-blue navigation, restrained accent states, and compact lesson cards."
Lesson 3a
Choose the best stack for the job.
The right stack is usually the one that lets you verify the idea
with the least unnecessary machinery. Ask for tradeoffs, then
pick based on deployment, maintenance, and your own skill level.
Copy the stack decision prompt
I want to build this project:
[describe project]
Recommend a simple technical stack. Compare 3 options using:
- time to first version
- deployment complexity
- future flexibility
- what can go wrong
End with one recommendation and explain what you would not build yet.
Lesson 3b
Create a plan that can survive real work.
A good plan includes what to build, what to skip, how to verify
progress, and when to stop expanding. Keep the first milestone
close.
Planning standard
If the plan cannot tell you what to do in the next 30 minutes,
it is still too abstract. Ask the assistant to break it down.