Work
Hire with a brief, not a prompt: five parts for a first task
Vague first tasks give vague results and no clear point where the bot should stop for you.
What hurt
Darius Gaynor (@dariusgaynor) frames a strong first task as a five-part brief and shared an example you can adapt. Not affiliated with xAI.
What to install or create
Write Outcome (what finished looks like), Sources (apps, files, sites), Constraints (what it must not do), Deliverable (what it returns), and Review point (when it stops for you). One bot, one job, one brief, then review.
Bots
No new bot. Follow the first-run steps.
Plugins
None on day one. Follow the first-run steps.
Files
Brief template: Outcome / Sources / Constraints / Deliverable / Review point.
Routines
None on the first run. Watch one manual pass first.
The prompt
Example first-task brief (author-quoted)
Quoted from @dariusgaynor — as published. Do not invent a second system prompt.
Compare this week's new-user activation to the last four weeks. Draft a short investigation plan with chart links. Do not change any dashboards. Ask me to sign in if needed.
First run
- 1Read https://x.com/dariusgaynor/status/2107162698211328421 (credit @dariusgaynor).
- 2Pick one bot and one boring, real job for it.
- 3Write the five parts: Outcome, Sources, Constraints, Deliverable, Review point.
- 4Send it as the bot's first task (adapt the example below).
- 5Review the result against the Outcome before giving it a second job.
Approval fence
The example forbids changing dashboards and asks you to sign in if needed; keep a constraint like that in every brief.
What to tweak
The constraint and review point are what make a first task safe to hand off.
Source
Darius Gaynor @dariusgaynor · Original post
Not affiliated with xAI. We did not write this prompt. Third-party template terms still apply.
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