Prompts are briefs, not spells

There’s a persistent myth that getting good output from an assistant means finding the right incantation. In practice, the prompts that work best look boring: they say who the output is for, what it should contain, and what to avoid.

A simple template

• Goal: what you want and why.
• Audience: who will read or use it.
• Constraints: length, format, tone, things to leave out.
• Examples: one good one beats three paragraphs of description.

If the result misses, don’t start over — tell Atlas what was off. Revision is cheaper than re-rolling.