Prompt Library by Use Case

This lesson isn’t a lecture; it’s a toolbox. You’ll find tested prompts for the most common professional scenarios: copy them, replace the bracketed variables with your information, and you start from a solid base that you can adjust to your context. Each one leverages a technique covered in previous lessons, letting you see them in action on real cases rather than textbook examples.

Professional Communication

Follow-ups are where you waste the most time for the worst results: you hesitate, soften your tone, and send a message that achieves nothing. The prompt below enforces two things that make all the difference—delivering value before asking for anything, and banning opening phrases that immediately signal a routine follow-up.

You are an experienced B2B sales rep known for follow-ups
that get responses without being pushy.

Write a follow-up email for [CONTACT NAME], [TITLE]
at [COMPANY]. Our last exchange was [DURATION] ago.
Subject: [DISCUSSION TOPIC].

Constraints:
- Provide value (an insight, a data point, a relevant article)
- Maximum 100 words
- One clear call to action
- Do not start with "I'm following up"
- Include an email subject line (do not use "Follow-up" in the subject)

Meeting minutes, on the other hand, come down to discipline: no interpretation, no reconstructing debates, and an explicit note when information is missing rather than silently filling gaps that could make you validate a decision no one actually made.

Turn these raw notes into professional meeting minutes.

Notes:
[PASTE YOUR RAW NOTES HERE]

Format:
- Subject and attendees (2 lines)
- Decisions made (table: Decision | Owner | Date)
- Action items (table: Action | Who | When | Priority High/Medium/Low)
- Open issues (bullet list)
- Next steps (1 line)

Tone: Factual. No comments, no interpretation.
If information is missing from my notes, state "Not specified."

Marketing and Content

A well-constructed article outline saves most of the writing work that follows: writing becomes execution, not research. This one goes as far as internal linking and an FAQ, two elements usually tacked on afterward in a rush and done poorly.

You are a content strategist specializing in B2B SEO.

Create an SEO-optimized article outline for the keyword: [KEYWORD]

Target audience: [PERSONA]
Goal: [INFORM / CONVERT / EDUCATE]
Target length: [WORD COUNT]

The outline must include:
1. Optimized H1 title (include the keyword naturally)
2. Meta description (max 155 characters)
3. Complete H2/H3 structure with key content for each section
4. Secondary keywords to integrate (5-8)
5. 3 ideas for internal links to place
6. Final call to action
7. FAQ (3 questions related to search intent)

On social media, the challenge isn’t writing a single post; it’s maintaining a rhythm for a month without repeating yourself. The alternation constraint at the very end of the prompt is there for exactly that reason: without it, you’ll get twelve variations of the same educational post.

Create a 4-week LinkedIn posting calendar.

Profile: [YOUR TITLE AND INDUSTRY]
Goal: [AWARENESS / LEADS / RECRUITMENT]
Themes to cover: [LIST OF 3-5 THEMES]
Frequency: [NUMBER] posts per week

For each post, provide:
- Publication day
- Type (text, carousel, poll, document)
- Hook (first line that makes people want to click "see more")
- Full post content (150-200 words)
- Hashtags (3-5 relevant ones)
- Call to action

Constraint: Alternate between educational posts, case studies,
and engagement posts (questions, polls).

Analysis and Strategy

A rapid diagnostic comes in handy when you need a reasoned opinion within 24 hours. Its strength lies in the final dual reading—effort versus impact—which turns a list of observations you wouldn’t know what to do with into an executable marching order for the following week.

You are a senior consultant in [FIELD].

Perform a rapid diagnostic based on this information:
[PASTE YOUR DATA / METRICS / DESCRIPTION]

Structure your diagnostic:
1. 3-sentence summary (situation, main problem, urgency)
2. Identified strengths (max 3, with evidence)
3. Critical weaknesses (max 3, with estimated impact)
4. Quick wins: 3 high-impact, low-effort actions
5. Major initiatives: 2 structural projects to plan

For each recommendation, indicate:
effort (low/medium/high) | impact (low/medium/high) | timeline

SWOT analyses often degenerate into decorative inventories projected in committees before moving to the next slide. Requiring an action for every finding, followed by a synthesis derived from crossing the quadrants, brings it back to its purpose as a decision-making tool.

Perform a SWOT analysis for [COMPANY/PROJECT/PRODUCT].

Context: [CONTEXT DESCRIPTION]

For each quadrant, provide exactly 4 items. For each
item, add a concrete associated action.

Format:
| Category | Finding | Recommended Action |

Then synthesize into 3 strategic priorities emerging
from the intersection of strengths/opportunities and weaknesses/threats.

Management and HR

This prompt helps you prepare difficult feedback without ruminating on it for hours. The final open-ended question is the critical detail: it transforms a verdict the employee endures into a conversation they participate in.

Help me formulate constructive feedback.

Context:
- Employee: [TITLE, TENURE]
- Situation: [WHAT HAPPENED]
- What went well: [POSITIVE]
- What needs to change: [AREA FOR IMPROVEMENT]

Use the SBI method:
- Situation: When and where
- Behavior: What was done (factual, no interpretation)
- Impact: The effect on the team, project, or result

End with an open-ended question to engage discussion.
Tone: Supportive but direct, max 150 words.

For annual reviews, the goal isn’t just to comment on the past year; it’s to avoid showing up empty-handed on the two points the employee actually cares about: their objectives for the coming year and their development plan.

You are an experienced manager. Help me prepare the annual
review for [NAME], [TITLE].

Data:
- Objectives set at the start of the year: [LIST]
- Results achieved: [LIST]
- Observed strengths: [LIST]
- Areas for improvement: [LIST]

Produce:
1. Evaluation of each objective (achieved / partially / not achieved)
   with factual commentary
2. 3 strengths to highlight with concrete examples
3. 2 areas for improvement phrased positively
4. Proposal of 3 objectives for next year (SMART)
5. Development plan (1 training + 1 stretch assignment)

Personal Productivity

Preparing a meeting means deciding in advance what it must produce. The fourth item in the prompt—the difficult question and its answer—is what saves you from the only truly uncomfortable moment in the session: when a participant raises the point you hoped wouldn’t come up.

Help me prepare my [DURATION] meeting on [TOPIC].

Attendees: [LIST AND ROLES]
Objective: [WHAT THE MEETING MUST PRODUCE]
Context: [CURRENT SITUATION]

Produce:
1. Agenda with timing for each item
2. For each item: key question to ask and decision to make
3. Data/documents to prepare before the meeting
4. The difficult question a participant might ask
   and the prepared response
5. Meeting minutes template pre-filled with sections to complete

Finally, for long documents, the last line of the prompt makes all the difference between a summary and a critical read. What’s missing from a file—the unjustified assumption, the missing figure, the blind spot—is often more instructive than what it contains.

Summarize this document by extracting essential information.

[PASTE THE DOCUMENT]

Summary format:
1. Executive summary (max 5 lines)
2. Key points (5-7 bullet points)
3. Decisions or recommendations from the document (if applicable)
4. Important numerical data (table if more than 3)
5. What is missing or unclear in the document

Your Turn

Make the library your own. Choose three prompts corresponding to tasks you perform every week and use them as-is with your real data. Evaluate the result, adjust constraints that don’t fit your context, then save the personalized version in your templates. This saving step is the one people skip and regret: a refined prompt that gets lost must be reinvented from scratch, and it won’t be as good. Keep in mind that these models are starting points; combine them with techniques from previous lessons, such as few-shot, structured response, or decomposition, whenever the task demands it. For minutes, summaries, and analyses, always review the output before sharing it.

Official sources: Prompting (ChatGPT documentation) · Prompt engineering best practices for ChatGPT (OpenAI Help Center)

Key Takeaways

• A library of proven prompts prevents starting from scratch for every recurring task
• Every prompt in this library applies a technique covered in the course
• Adapt each prompt to your context before using it, then review the result
• Store your personalized versions where you can find them: library, project, or skill
• Enrich the library over time with your most effective prompts