Working with a prompt engineering strategy

Prompt engineering is an iterative process. It’s unlikely that you’ll be successful with your task with your first, second, or third prompt. This is why I tend to avoid guides and lists on the internet offering the 100 best prompts. There are no hard and fast rules in prompt engineering, but there are some strategies to follow alongside using some or all of our effective prompt components. Let’s take a closer look at some of these strategies in more detail.

Define clear goals

Before you even start using prompts, it’s best to consider the task you’re trying to achieve. A clear design and goal will mean fewer iterations overall. So, consider your task and see whether you can explain it clearly to yourself or describe it in a few sentences, including some appropriate keywords, to ensure that you’ve thought it through and have enough detail to provide to ChatGPT. LLMs tend to go off on tangents if...