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Planning on The Latent Daily: 1 story and 6 prompts. Latest: Prompt of the day: the pre-mortem prompt that finds why your plan will fail.
A reusable prompt that asks an AI model to imagine your project has failed and explain why. Includes the template, a worked example and tips for useful answers.
thelatentdaily.com Editorial Team4 min read
You are an organized friend who has helped many people move. Create a moving plan for me. Moving date: [DATE] (today is [TODAY'S DATE]) From and to: [e.g. "2-bedroom flat to a house in another city, 300 km away", plus country] Who is moving: [e.g. "2 adults, a toddler and a cat"] Renting or owning, at both ends: [DETAILS] How we are moving: [e.g. "hiring movers", "renting a van with friends"] Special items: [e.g. "piano, plants, home office equipment"] Things I am worried about: [e.g. "keeping the toddler's routine", "getting internet working on day one"] Please: 1. A week-by-week timeline from today to moving day, then the first two weeks after. Each week: 3-8 concrete tasks. 2. A list of organizations and services that may need my new address or a transfer (utilities, internet, bank, employer, doctor, school, subscriptions, vehicle and voter registration), with a note to check local rules. 3. A packing plan: room order, what to pack first and last, how to label boxes, and items not to put in the van (documents, medicines, valuables). 4. A "first night" box list. 5. A moving-day schedule hour by hour. 6. Tips for the specific worries and special items I listed. 7. A short list of things to photograph or record (meter readings, condition of the old home) for deposits and bills. Keep tasks short and actionable, as a checklist. Where rules differ by country or contract, say so instead of guessing.
Works with: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Any LLM
Before taking any action, write a plan for the task below and wait for my approval. Task: [WHAT YOU WANT DONE, e.g. "update the dependency versions in this repo and fix any failing tests"] Definition of done: [HOW WE KNOW IT IS FINISHED, e.g. "all tests pass and a summary of changes is written"] Tools and access you have: [e.g. "file system in this folder, terminal, web browsing", OR "list what you can use"] Constraints: [e.g. "do not push to remote", "budget: 30 minutes", "do not contact anyone"] Context: [FILES, LINKS OR BACKGROUND] The plan must include: 1. Restated goal and done criteria, plus any assumptions. List questions if the task is ambiguous. 2. Numbered steps. For each: action, tool, expected result, and how you will verify it worked. 3. Risk labels: mark any step that deletes, overwrites, spends money, sends messages, or changes anything outside [SCOPE] as "NEEDS APPROVAL". 4. Checkpoints: after which steps you will pause and report progress. 5. Stop rules: stop and ask me if a step fails twice, if results contradict the plan, if you need access you do not have, or if the task is larger than expected. 6. A rollback note: how to undo each change. After approval, follow the plan, report at each checkpoint, and if you need to deviate, explain why before doing it.
Works with: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Any AI agent
You are a practical small-business advisor. Help me turn my idea into a one-page business plan. The idea: [DESCRIBE IT IN 2-5 SENTENCES] Location or market: [CITY, COUNTRY, OR "online"] Who I think the customer is: [DESCRIPTION] My resources: [e.g. "€8k savings, evenings and weekends, a van"] What I already know: [ANY PRICES, COSTS, CUSTOMER CONVERSATIONS OR NUMBERS] Goal for the first year: [e.g. "replace half my salary", "test demand"] Write a one-page plan (about 400 words) with these sections: 1. Customer and problem: who has the problem and how they solve it today. 2. Offer: what I sell, and why it is better than the current solution for this customer. 3. Channels: how customers will find and buy it. 4. Revenue model and pricing: how I make money, with a starting price range and the reasoning. 5. Key costs: fixed and variable costs I should expect, using my numbers where I gave them. 6. Simple break-even: how many sales per month cover my costs. Show the arithmetic. 7. Milestones for the first 6 months. Then list the 5 riskiest assumptions in the plan, with a cheap test for each that I could run in under two weeks (e.g. a landing page, 10 customer calls, a pre-order). Rules: label any number I did not provide as "ESTIMATE - CHECK". Do not present estimates as market data.
Works with: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Any LLM
You are an experienced project manager. Draft a one-page kickoff brief from my notes. Project name: [NAME] Sponsor or decision-maker: [WHO] Team members and roles: [NAMES AND ROLES, or "not yet decided"] Deadline or key dates: [DATES] Budget or effort limit: [e.g. "€15k", "two people for six weeks", "unknown"] My notes about the project: """ [PASTE IDEAS, EMAILS, REQUIREMENTS] """ Write the brief with these sections: 1. Goal: one sentence on the problem and the outcome, plus 2-3 measurable success criteria. 2. Scope: what is included. 3. Out of scope: what is explicitly not included (at least 3 items). 4. Stakeholders and roles: who decides, who does the work, who must be consulted, who is kept informed. 5. Milestones: 4-6 milestones with target dates working back from the deadline. 6. Risks and assumptions: top 5, each with a likelihood (low/medium/high) and a mitigation. 7. Open questions for the kickoff meeting, with who should answer each. Rules: - Keep it to one page (about 450 words). - Do not invent names, budgets or dates. Write "TBD" where my notes are silent. - If the deadline looks unrealistic for the scope, say so and propose what to cut.
Works with: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Any LLM
You are a social media strategist for small teams. Build a 4-week content calendar. Brand or project: [NAME AND WHAT YOU OFFER] Audience: [WHO, AND WHAT PROBLEMS OR INTERESTS THEY HAVE] Goal for this month: [e.g. "newsletter sign-ups", "bookings for the spring workshop"] Channels and realistic frequency: [e.g. "Instagram 3x/week, LinkedIn 2x/week"] Content pillars (3-4 themes): [e.g. "behind the scenes, how-to tips, customer stories, offers"] Key dates this month: [LAUNCHES, EVENTS, HOLIDAYS RELEVANT TO YOUR AUDIENCE] Assets I have: [e.g. "product photos, 2 customer testimonials, no video"] Voice: [3 ADJECTIVES] Produce: 1. A table: Week | Day | Channel | Pillar | Format (carousel, short video, text post, story, etc.) | Post idea | Call to action. 2. Balance: no more than one in four posts should be a direct sales pitch. 3. Draft captions for week 1 only, adapted to each channel's style and length. 4. For each post idea, note which of my existing assets it uses, or "NEW ASSET NEEDED". 5. Three simple metrics to track, tied to my goal, and what to change in week 3 if results are weak. Keep the plan within the frequency I gave. Do not invent customer quotes or results.
Works with: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Any LLM
You are a neutral decision analyst. Help me make this decision using a weighted decision matrix. Decision: [WHAT I NEED TO DECIDE] Options: [OPTION A, OPTION B, OPTION C ...] Criteria and weights (total 100): [e.g. Cost 30, Time to implement 20, Quality 30, Risk 20] Facts I know about each option: [PASTE PRICES, DEADLINES, FEATURES, CONSTRAINTS] Hard constraints (options that fail these are eliminated): [e.g. "budget under €10,000"] Steps: 1. Check the hard constraints and eliminate any option that fails, explaining why. 2. If an important criterion seems missing, suggest it, but do not add it to the scores unless I agree. 3. Score each remaining option from 1 to 5 on each criterion. For every score, give a one-line reason based on the facts. Mark a score "ASSUMED" if it is not supported by the facts I gave. 4. Show the matrix: Option | each criterion (score x weight) | Total. 5. Sensitivity check: would the winner change if the top-weighted criterion moved by 10 points either way? 6. Give the result, the main trade-off, and the 2-3 facts that, if they turned out different, would change the recommendation. Stay neutral. The decision is mine; your job is to make the trade-offs clear.
Works with: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Any LLM