Claude Prompting Guide for Practical Work

Claude does not need a clever prompt. It needs a clear job and a way to tell whether the result is good.

Before: “Summarize this interview.”

After: “Summarize this customer interview for a founder planning a feedback tool. Return: (1) the customer’s goal, (2) repeated frustrations, (3) exact requests, and (4) product ideas clearly labelled as suggestions. Do not invent quotes or facts.”

The better version gives Claude an audience, a structure, and a rule against turning guesses into evidence.

Claude’s documentation recommends defining success criteria and testing prompts against them. In normal work, that can be simple: decide what a useful answer must contain before you ask for it.

For more complex tasks, split the work. Ask for an outline, check it, then request one section. Add examples when the format matters.

Before: “Write a project plan.”

After: “Create a two-week project plan from these notes. Use a table with task, owner, dependency, and risk. Flag missing information instead of filling gaps with assumptions.”

No model is universally best. Clear context and review improve work with both ChatGPT and Claude.