A good product prompt isn't a magic trick. It's a checklist you don't have to remember, run by something that never gets bored.
Name the failure modes
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.
Reuse the recipe
Treat the first output as a draft, not a verdict. The prompt does the typing; you keep the judgment about what ships.
Cut before you polish
Write down what you never want as explicitly as what you do. The exclusions often do more work than the instructions.
- Name the audience and the single goal before you generate
- Keep one ask per prompt — chaining beats cramming
- Have the model flag what it could not cover
Treat the first output as a draft, not a verdict. The prompt does the typing; you keep the judgment about what ships.