A good request: the goal, the context, the form, the criteria

This lesson is still being tested: it improves with learners' feedback. If something is unclear, it is the lesson that needs fixing, not you.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to

write a complete request with its 4 elements: the goal, the context, the form, the criteria;
turn a vague request into a useful one, in two minutes;
get the AI to ask the questions it is missing before it answers;
keep your best requests so you can reuse them.

Why it matters to you

Most disappointing answers come from a request that is too short. This is not about “magic words”: it is about telling the AI what a colleague would ask you before getting started. This lesson is the first step of the method used throughout the course: SAY.

Before you start


You need	Your assistant from lesson 1 of module 1, free account
Cost	€0
Duration	35 minutes
Reminder	Nothing sensitive in your requests: describe the situation without identifying anyone

Understand it in 3 minutes

When some information is missing, the AI does not always ask you for it: it often fills the gap with a plausible assumption, close to the most common answer. That is why a vague request gets an average answer.

The 4 elements of a good request:

Element	The question to ask yourself	Example
The goal	What do I want to get, and what is it for?	A weekend plan, to decide tonight with my friends
The context	What does the AI need to know about my situation?	4 adults, traveling by car from Lille, budget €150 per person, one person can’t walk for long
The form	What form do I want the answer in?	3 proposals, 5 lines each, with the travel time
The criteria	How will I know it worked?	It worked if the 3 ideas fit the budget and are less than 2 hours away by road

You recognize the elements from lesson 1 of module 1: the goal combines “what you want” and “what it is for”. The new one is the last: “It worked if…”. It steers the answer, then helps you check it.

Do it together

1Step 1: The vague request

First send this, exactly as it is:

Help me with the weekend.

Look at the answer: general, full of questions or all-purpose ideas. That is normal, the AI knows nothing about you.

2Step 2: The same one, complete

Open a new conversation, then send:

I want 3 weekend ideas, to decide tonight with my friends.
What you need to know: we are 4 adults, traveling by car from Lille, with a budget of €150 per person, and one person in the group can't walk for long.
Form: 3 proposals of 5 lines each, with the travel time.
It worked if the 3 ideas fit the budget and are less than 2 hours away by road.

Compare the two answers. The second one is directly usable, and you can check it against your own criteria.

3Step 3: Get it to ask the right questions

When you don’t know what to specify, swap the roles:

I want to prepare an email to follow up with a client who hasn't paid an invoice. Before writing, ask me the 3 questions you need to write a good email. One question at a time.

Answer its questions (with a made-up case), then let it write. You have just moved from SAY to DISCUSS: you improve the request before producing anything.

Your turn

Three requests from your real life. Choose three needs from your week (personal, work or a project). For each one:

write the request with the 4 elements, ending with “It worked if…”;
send it;
rate from 1 to 5 whether the result meets your criteria.

Keep the best one in your “My requests” note.

Resources to download

My requests: the template for your request library, to complete with your three new requests.

Check your work

It worked if:

each of your three requests contains the goal, the context, the form and at least one criterion;
at least one answer got 4 or 5 out of 5, on the first or the second try;
your best request is stored in “My requests”.

Common mistakes:

a twenty-line request with instructions that contradict each other: keep the essentials;
a context that identifies someone (name, address, health): describe the situation, not the person;
forgetting the form: the AI then picks a length and a format at random;
criteria that cannot be checked (“make it good”): prefer “under 10 lines”, “within budget”, “without jargon”.

Keep it and pick it up later

Your “My requests” note now contains at least two complete requests: the one from module 1, and your best one from today.
The next time a need comes back, start from a saved request and change only the details.

Going further

optional

The same method works with Claude, ChatGPT or another assistant: the tool matters less than the way you ask. The Choosing your tool page compares their free plans, with dates.

New words

3 words explained

Word	What it means
Success criterion	A checkable condition that tells you whether the result is right: “under 10 lines”, “within budget”
Vague request	A request with no context and no form: the AI completes it with a plausible assumption
Swapping the roles	Asking the AI to ask you its questions before it answers