The trap with coding prompts is asking for the finished thing. Ask for options instead, then bring your taste to the edit.
Name the failure modes
Ask for the reasoning, then the result. When the model shows its steps you can see exactly where to push back.
Generate options, not answers
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.
- Have the model flag what it could not cover
- Save the prompt that worked so the next person reuses it
- Lower the reading level, then check what broke
Cut before you polish
Treat the first output as a draft, not a verdict. The prompt does the typing; you keep the judgment about what ships.
- Compare two outputs instead of trusting one
- Save the prompt that worked so the next person reuses it
- Ask for three angles, then cut to the one worth shipping
Write down what you never want as explicitly as what you do. The exclusions often do more work than the instructions.