Assemble an action-table prompt
Assemble an action-table prompt
A 90-minute project meeting produced two pages of messy notes: commitments, tangents, side agreements and three open questions. The absent team lead needs the actions, not the story.
Fill every field to assemble a prompt that turns the notes into an action table — then compare with a strong example.
A strong example (self-assessment — not machine-graded)
Turn the meeting notes below into an action table with exactly these columns: Action | Owner | Due date | Status (decided / open). Put one action per row, using the notes' own words for each commitment. When the notes name no owner or no date, write 'unassigned' or 'no date' in that cell — never guess or infer one. Use only what is in the notes: no invented owners, dates or actions. Keep open questions as rows with Status 'open'. Finally, group the rows by owner. Notes: [paste the notes]
Hint
A column list is a format; 'clearer' is a wish.
What should happen when the notes are silent on an owner?
Why this is the answer
The assembled prompt fixes the columns, enforces one action per row and — critically — turns missing owners and dates into visible gaps instead of inventions. The guard line blocks the two failure modes that matter for notes: guessed owners and invented deadlines. Keeping open questions as rows stops discussions from being recorded as decisions.