Conclusion and Next Steps

Outcomes

• Apply learnings to your prompting journey.

• Learn and review various tips and tricks for your prompt journey

Bonus Topic: Tips and Tricks

The following are some tips and tricks I use in my prompt engineering. Note I used an outline and asked ChatGPT to format and add titles.

1. Use a Conversational Style – Talk to the AI like you would talk to a person

While AI models process language differently than humans, using natural, conversational prompts can improve the flow and quality of responses. Here’s how:

• Ask open-ended questions, which encourage more expansive answers. For example, instead of a “Sales by region chart,” try asking, “Can you show me sales broken down by region in a bar chart?”

• Provide a persona: If appropriate, suggest a role or personality for the AI (e.g., “Act like a data analyst and suggest visualizations for this sales dataset.”). This can add focus to the interaction.

2. Provide Context for Clarity

The more specific your prompt, the more tailored and valuable the AI’s response will be. Consider these tips:

• Include background information: Briefly summarize your knowledge level or purpose (e.g., “I’m analyzing website traffic for the past year. Can you show me which countries generate the most visits?”)

• State preferences: Note any restrictions, style choices, or what you want to emphasize (e.g.” I prefer providing simple examples with bar charts.”)

• Share relevant facts: Indicate any crucial details that might affect the outcome (e.g., “I’m interested in customer retention. Focus on repeat purchases over the last 6 months.”)

3. Experiment with Formatting

Confident formatting choices can influence how the AI interprets your prompts:

• Capitalization: Emphasize key terms or differentiate between names (“Emphasize HIGH-VALUE customers in the visualization.” vs. “Write a graph showing customers.”).

• Punctuation: Use exclamation points for excitement or question marks to signal a query.

• Line breaks and spacing: Create visual separation between ideas or instructions for improved clarity.

4. Utilize Keywords and Specificity

The more precise your language, the better equipped the AI will be to deliver the desired outcome.

• Employ strong verbs: Instead of “summarize data,” try “calculate average sales price” or “identify top-performing products.”

• Be specific with nouns: Replace “product” with “Widget X” or a specific product ID.

• Include quantifiers: Provide numbers or descriptors where applicable (“a short description,” “three solutions,” etc.).

5. Iterate and Refine

Rarely will the first prompt yield the perfect result. Treat your interaction with the AI as an ongoing conversation:

• Rephrase: If a response seems off-target, try rewording your original prompt.

• Provide feedback:  If a visualization isn’t ideal, try “Change that to a pie chart” or “Drill down to the city level.”

• Build upon prior outputs: Use the AI’s previous responses as a jumping-off point for further exploration.

6. Let’s Leverage this for Reusability !!

These tools understand human conversation, so we should take advantage of that when we create prompts. This will help them discover your prompt’s intent and reuse it as a “conversation” starter.

• Reuse and Organize: your prompts into libraries

• Resource Sharing: Share them in your organization.

7. Stay updated

Staying updated in technical writing is essential for producing high-quality and relevant content. By staying informed about recent industry developments, you can ensure that your documentation is accurate and valuable to your target audience.

One way to stay updated is to follow technical news sources and attend industry events. These resources provide valuable insights into emerging trends, best practices, and new tools for enhancing content creation.

Coming Soon – Newsletter

Conclusion

ChatGPT is an effective tool for improving technical writing. However, prompt crafting is vital to using it effectively. This involves guiding ChatGPT in producing accurate and engaging content. The key is to feed and seed the tool, guiding it through interactions to create the desired content. ChatGPT can improve your workflow and increase accuracy and productivity with a clear prompting framework.

“It is abundantly clear that those who learn how to communicate effectively with AI and articulate their needs concisely and clearly will have a competitive advantage in the future of the AI and creator economy.

One of the hidden benefits of large language models like GPT-3 and ChatGPT is that they can help users refine their ability to accurately describe their desired outcomes. This is a major advantage for systems like ChatGPT.”ChatGPT, Prompt Engineering, NLG, And Who Will Win The Endgame (wordlift.io), Emilia Gjorgjevska