Asking for something and getting it first time
This is a draft
The steps below were written but have not yet been performed end to end on a real machine, and the time is planned rather than measured with a stopwatch. Four of the twelve checks are outstanding. The teaching is sound; treat the timings and the failure list as provisional. What that means
After this you will be able to
Write a request that includes the task, who it is for, how long it should be, and an example.
Skip this if your requests already name the reader and the length. If you are getting answers that are technically right and completely unusable, this is the lesson.
Before you start. Without looking back: what is the one question from lesson 3 that decides whether something is safe to put in?
(If this appeared in an email to somebody outside your organisation tomorrow, would that be a problem?)
Most disappointing answers are disappointing because the request left out something the person asking already knew and never said. There are four things worth saying every time, and adding them takes about fifteen seconds.
The single biggest jump in quality comes from naming the reader, and almost nobody does it unprompted.
What you need
- Any device with a browser.
- No account needed.
- No cost.
The steps
- Write down what you actually want, as a verb. "Draft", "summarise", "list", "compare". Not "help me with".You should have a sentence starting with an instruction rather than a pleasantry.
- Add who it is for, in your own words. "For a tenant who has complained twice already." "For my manager, who has two minutes."You should notice this is the part you would have said out loud to a colleague and never thought to type.
- Add how long it should be. Words, sentences, bullet points, one paragraph — any unit works as long as it is a number.You should have a number in your request. "Short" is not a number and it will not do what you want.
- Add an example of what good looks like, if you have one. Paste in a previous letter you were happy with, with the names taken out, per lesson 3.You should see the answer come back in a noticeably closer register than before. This is the step with the biggest effect and the one most often skipped.
Try this one first
Weak: "write something about the boiler policy." Better: "Draft a letter for a tenant who has already complained twice and is angry. Four short paragraphs. Plain English, no jargon, no apology that sounds like a template. Here is a letter I was happy with last year: …"
Four additions, about fifteen seconds of typing: the verb, the reader, the length, the example. The second request will get something you can edit rather than something you have to rewrite.
If it goes wrong
The answer is still generic. You almost certainly left out the reader. Add one sentence describing the person who will read it, including how they are feeling, and ask again.
It is too long no matter what you say. Give it a number and a unit: "four sentences", "120 words". If it overruns, reply with "half that" rather than starting again.
It writes in a voice that is not yours. That is what the example is for. One piece of your own past writing does more than any amount of describing the tone you want.
Do today
Take a request you made this week that came back disappointing. Add the four things. Send it again and compare the two answers side by side.
Where else this works. The same four things work when you brief a colleague, a contractor or a designer. Most of what makes a request work has nothing to do with the tool.
Practice card for this lesson — one page of A4, no email address needed.
Did this work? If it did not, say what happened — hello@howtobedigital.com
Every failure anybody sends in ends up in the section above.
Checked by a person · not auto-published
Published 14 July 2026 · Last checked 14 July 2026
8 of 12 checks passed — see which four are outstanding
Covers: Skills England, Technical AI foundation skills
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