Say what you want back
2 min read
Left to itself, an AI writes paragraphs. Paragraphs are its default shape for everything, including things that should obviously be a list.
If you know the shape you want — a bulleted list, a table, a ready-to-send email, exactly five ideas — say so. It costs you four words.
This is also how you control length. "In two sentences" is a real instruction, and it will follow it.
Instead of
ideas for a team offsite
Try
Give me 5 ideas for a team offsite. Put them in a list. For each one, add a single line on why it suits a team that mostly works remotely.
Naming the format and the count means you get something you can use immediately, instead of something you have to reformat.