howtobedigital

Asking for something

Seven screens. About three minutes.

One box labelled what you typed with an arrow to a very large box labelled what came back. what you typednot that

You asked. It gave you something else.

Almost always, the request was the problem.

A cut-away box labelled a good request holding four boxes: the task, who for, how long, an example. a good requestthe taskwho forhow longan example

Four parts.

Most people send the first one on its own.

Two panels. On the left one small box labelled write something. On the right four boxes stacked, in green. usuallyinsteadwrite somethingthe taskwho forhow longan example

Longer is faster.

Thirty extra words saves three goes at it.

Four steps in a row with arrows: ask, read, say what is wrong, ask again. The third is amber. 1ask2read3say what is wrong4again

The first answer is a draft.

Tell it what is wrong. That is the whole trick.

A box labelled an example of what good looks like, in amber, with an arrow into a green box labelled much closer. one examplemuch closer

An example beats an adjective.

Paste something you liked instead of saying make it friendly.

Do today

Take a request you sent this week and add the three parts you left out.

That's the whole thing