Find hidden connections
A prompt for gaining insights
So what prompted the prompt?!
4 things happend on a random Wednesday:
A good friend pinged me on WhatsApp, he need help with his LinkedIn. Which means he needs a prompt to optimize his CV for his LinkedIn Profile
I got a the substack newsletter from
( get it!!!), which included the prompt idea we will look at in a minuteI trained another batch of non-techies in the art of prompt engineering
Quite a lot of germans (I'm german by the way) bashing the results they got out of ChatGPT
These 4 things togehter, got me thinking, is it time to share more on that prompting thingy? And while there are for sure quite a lot of publications out, is there a before and after one?! So here we are.
The before
Okay here we go, the before prompt:
“Is there a relationship between X and Y? If so, give me 7 examples.”
It's a solid prompt. It should give you insights into the connection between two topics or fields. It's good for brainstorming and sparks a curios mind.
But is it really good? Can we make it better?
The after
You just want the after, here you go:
"In this rapidly evolving, volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VuCA) world, it can be challenging to identify and understand the potential interconnections. Given these circumstances, I would like to explore the potential relationship between X and Y. Please bear in mind that the absence of a relationship is a valid conclusion and the goal here is to avoid confirmation bias or other cognitive biases while ensuring a fact-based investigation.
If a plausible relationship between X and Y exists, please illustrate with up to 7 fact-based examples. Each example should clearly demonstrate the connection, contain accurate and detailed information, and where possible, highlight the source of the information.
Furthermore, if possible, please provide insight into whether these relationships are causative, correlative, or possibly coincidental, based on the information available.
It would be greatly appreciated if you could also discuss the potential implications and broader context of these relationships within our interconnected world, in order to encourage a comprehensive understanding."
Yes, quite a bit of difference! And if you ever end up in one of my workshops, you will the sentence: never, ever use one / twoliners!
The way, the difference
You want to learn how ended up with this long thingy?
Expletive
Context
Problem understanding
Data Science knowledge
Behavioral knowledge
The author of the original prompt had quiet a lot of great thoughts, why she wanted to explore connections in our world, but it wasn't written in her prompt.
Context, in that case I described what kind of world it is we want to explore.
Problem understanding, that makes the prompt so long.
Data Science knowledge, I state in an explit manner, if there is no connection don't make one up! No result, is a result- that lesson is less for my students but more the hard one many board members had to learn over the years.
Behavioral knowledge, thats the whole bias thing!
The art
Yes, all of these factors matter and make up the art of prompt engineering and will get you the results and the insights you really searched for.
Bye for now! Don't forget to subscribe and send a prompt - it's called “your prompt, but better” for a reason