You don't need a hundred product prompts. You need five you trust and actually reuse.
Cut before you polish
Ask for the reasoning, then the result. When the model shows its steps you can see exactly where to push back.
- Ask for three angles, then cut to the one worth shipping
- Name the audience and the single goal before you generate
- Keep one ask per prompt — chaining beats cramming
Make the output reviewable
Lock the parts that never change and leave one slot for the variable. Now every run shares a family resemblance instead of starting from scratch.
Keep a negative list
Write down what you never want as explicitly as what you do. The exclusions often do more work than the instructions.
Treat the first output as a draft, not a verdict. The prompt does the typing; you keep the judgment about what ships.