You don't need a hundred product prompts. You need five you trust and actually reuse.
Keep a negative list
Ask for the reasoning, then the result. When the model shows its steps you can see exactly where to push back.
Name the failure modes
Write down what you never want as explicitly as what you do. The exclusions often do more work than the instructions.
Anchor to one reader
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.
- Name the audience and the single goal before you generate
- Ask for three angles, then cut to the one worth shipping
- Have the model flag what it could not cover
Write down what you never want as explicitly as what you do. The exclusions often do more work than the instructions.