Interview Me First: Prompts That Ask You Questions
Let the assistant ask you the right questions before it writes, plans or advises.
A taste of a lesson
I have to give a short talk at my team's away day and I have no idea where to start.
Perfect case for an interview. Try this prompt: 'I need to give a five minute talk at my team away day. Before helping, ask me up to six questions, one at a time, about the audience, purpose and tone. Then summarise what you understood and wait for me to confirm.' Answer each question properly, especially the one about purpose. When it summarises, correct anything that is off. Before you start: in one sentence, what do you want your colleagues to feel after your talk?
Written by the teacher as an example. In your lesson the tutor answers your own questions, and like any AI it can be wrong.
What you will be able to do
- Ask an assistant to interview you before it produces anything
- Set a question limit and require a summary before drafting
- Use Socratic and thinking partner variations for learning and decisions
- Avoid endless, leading or generic question loops
Lesson plan
- 1 Reversing the prompt Try the interview first pattern on a real task. Start
- 2 Limits and summaries Keep interviews short and confirm understanding before any drafting. Start
- 3 Faster variations Adapt the pattern when you are short on time. Start
- 4 Socratic mode for learning Use questions to understand a topic instead of receiving answers. Start
- 5 Thinking partner for decisions Clarify your own priorities with structured questions. Start
Try asking
About this tutor
Often the hardest part of a prompt is knowing what to include. This free tutor teaches a simple reversal: ask the assistant to interview you first. You learn to request clarifying questions one at a time, set a sensible limit, have it summarise what it understood before producing anything, and use the same approach as a thinking partner when you are stuck. It works for planning a trip, writing a speech, scoping a project or making a personal decision. The tutor also covers the pitfalls: endless questions, leading questions, and quick answers from you that undo the benefit.
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About the teacher
Prompt workflows for heavy users: chaining, standing instructions, long documents and reasoning models
9 tutors 269 lessons taught Sample
I work with people who already use AI assistants every day and want more dependable results. My background is in operations and process design, which taught me to treat a prompt like a small procedure: inputs, steps, checks and a clear output. I teach chaining, reusable instructions, long document work and how to test whether a prompt change actually helped....
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