Prepared for: Mai (fictional), operations lead at a 12-person design agency.
Her task: every Friday she turns the week's project notes into a status email for each client.
Her tool: a general AI assistant. The method is intended for general assistants; wording may need adjustment between tools.
What goes wrong: the result can be too long, miss a client dependency or introduce a date nobody agreed.
1. Assessment
Four things are making the result uneven:
- The input changes shape. Tidy bullets one week and a copied chat thread the next force the tool to decide what matters each time.
- One prompt is doing three jobs. It has to extract facts, decide what the client needs and write the email at once.
- The output is not defined. Length, sections and tone drift.
- Gaps get filled. When the notes omit a date, a general assistant can supply a plausible one. The fix is to say what to do when information is missing.
The first test does not require changing tools. Start by running the same steps every week.
2. The playbook
- Fill in the notes template. Use the same five headings every week. If a heading has nothing, write “none”.
- Strip what should not leave the building. Follow your company's AI-use policy. Replace client and people names with roles if needed.
- Extract the facts with prompt 2 and check the list before drafting.
- Draft the update with prompt 3, from the checked list only.
- Check the draft with prompt 4 for any sentence that is not backed by the facts list.
- Adjust length or tone with prompt 5, then check dates, names and promises yourself.
- Keep what works. Save the notes and final email together when an update goes out without heavy edits.
3. Five reusable prompts
Prompt 1: Standing instructions
You help me write weekly client status updates for a design agency. Use only facts I give you. Never invent or estimate a date, number or decision. If something needed is missing, write [CHECK: what's missing] instead of guessing. Use a plain, friendly, professional tone, no exclamation marks and under 200 words unless I ask otherwise. My notes use: DONE THIS WEEK / NEXT WEEK / WAITING ON CLIENT / CONFIRMED DATES / LEAVE OUT.
Prompt 2: Extract the facts
From the notes below, make a numbered list of facts in four groups: Done, Next, Waiting on client, Confirmed dates. One fact per line, in my words where possible. Don't add anything that isn't in the notes. Don't include anything under LEAVE OUT. If a date is mentioned but not marked as confirmed, put it under “Not confirmed” instead. [paste notes]
Prompt 3: Draft the update
Using only the checked facts list above, write the client update. Structure: a one-line summary; “This week” (2–4 bullets); “Next week” (2–4 bullets); “What we need from you” only when needed, with why it matters; and confirmed dates, if any. Address it to [first name]. Sign off as [your name].
Prompt 4: Check the draft against the facts
Compare the draft with the facts list. List every sentence that says something not in the facts, including dates, numbers, promises and judgements such as “on track”. Say whether to delete it or mark it [CHECK]. Then give the corrected draft.
Prompt 5: Adjust length or tone
Rewrite the update [shorter, under 120 words / for a senior reader who only needs the summary and decisions / in a warmer tone]. Keep every fact, every [CHECK] marker and every “What we need from you” item. Don't add anything new.
4. Worked exercise
The notes
DONE THIS WEEK: homepage design v2 sent Tue; client feedback call Wed, they liked the new layout, want the hero photo changed; started product page wireframes
NEXT WEEK: finish product page wireframes; hero photo options x3
WAITING ON CLIENT: final logo files (asked twice); copy for the About page
CONFIRMED DATES: none
LEAVE OUT: we're a day behind on wireframes because of the internal reshuffle
What prompt 2 should give you
Done: Homepage design v2 sent Tuesday. Feedback call Wednesday: the new layout is liked; the hero photo needs changing. Product page wireframes started.
Next: Finish product page wireframes. Prepare three hero photo options.
Waiting on client: Final logo files. About page copy.
Confirmed dates: none.
Check the list against the notes. Here it is right, and the internal delay is not included.
What prompt 3 might draft
Hi Sam,
Where we are: the homepage layout is agreed, and we're moving on to the product pages.
This week: we sent homepage design v2 on Tuesday. On Wednesday's call you were happy with the new layout and asked for a different hero photo. We've started the product page wireframes.
Next week: we'll finish the product page wireframes and send three hero photo options.
What we need from you: the final logo files and the About page copy.
Thanks, Mai
Your turn: run prompt 4. A good check flags “the homepage layout is agreed”: the notes say the client liked it, not that it was signed off. That one word is the kind of drift this process is designed to catch.
5. Your two Q&A rounds
Within seven days of this playbook, you can send two rounds of written questions in your private project conversation. The most useful material is one real week's de-identified notes, the draft your tool produced and what you changed. Replies are asynchronous, at scheduled check-ins, not live chat.