What finally made a prompt for spreadsheet cleanup click for me
The useful bit was asking for trade-offs and a smallest test before committing to a full plan.
Help me inspect inconsistent spreadsheet data and propose reversible cleanup rules. Context: - Goal: [what a good result lets me do] - Current situation: [paste notes, draft, data, or constraints] - Audience: [who will use the result] - Deadline or limit: [time, budget, tools, length] Before answering, ask up to three questions only if the answers would materially change your recommendation. Other
This is usable as written. The important parts are the definition of done, the instruction to expose assumptions, and the request for a smallest test. For a prompt for spreadsheet cleanup, I would start with these checks: - Put the source of truth in the prompt - Mark missing evidence instead of filling it in - Add a stop condition before tool use If you share real material, remove anything private first and replace bracketed fields with concrete details.