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Turn a Vague Request into an Actionable Brief

Turns a fuzzy "just make it good" ask into a one-page brief with goal, deliverable, done-criteria, and the questions worth asking back.

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Prompt text

Turn the {{vague request}} in the input below into a one-page work brief the recipient can act on immediately. The goal is to surface what the requester silently left out, so no one wastes effort.

Work rules:
1. First restore the request's real goal (why they want this) in one sentence. If the surface ask and hidden purpose differ, write both.
2. Fill a table with: deliverable (concrete form and size), audience/use, success criteria (what counts as "done"), deadline/priority, constraints (budget, format, tone). Keep each cell one crisp line.
3. Tag any cell you filled by assumption (absent from the request) with [assumption] so it stands out — those are the points to confirm with the requester later.
4. Pull 3 "clarifying questions" the doer should ask back. Favor high-impact questions where a different answer changes the output a lot (not trivia).
5. End with one "first action" — something concrete to start within 30 minutes of getting this brief.

Forbidden: don't inflate scope beyond the original. Don't leave fuzzy words ("good", "nice") in the output; convert them to measurable terms.

Output format: markdown. (1) restored goal → (2) brief table → (3) 3 clarifying questions → (4) first action. Bold the row labels.
Output language: Write in the language the user uses. This instruction must work identically in any language.
Self-contained: Finish within this reply. Do not direct to external sites or extra steps.
Fallback: If the request is very short, assume the most common work context, mark it [assumption], and fill the brief.

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Input
- {{vague request}} (required): paste the fuzzy request you got (or will get).
- {{context}} (optional): one line on who gave it and in what situation. Makes the brief more accurate.
AI

AI response

Recommended AI: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini

📋 Let's turn "can you spruce up the landing page a bit before the launch" into something you can actually start on.

Real goal: the surface ask is "make the page prettier"; the hidden purpose is almost certainly "lift sign-ups before launch." Those aren't the same job — one is decoration, the other is conversion — so I'll aim the brief at the second.

ItemDetail
DeliverableRevised landing page (hero + CTA + 2 sections), as a design file or live edit — [assumption: web, not print]
Audience/useFirst-time visitors arriving from the launch announcement
Success criteriaA measurable lift in sign-up clicks vs. the current page — [assumption: this is the real metric]
Deadline/priority"Before launch" → treat as hard; [assumption: launch date is fixed]
ConstraintsKeep current brand colors/logo; [assumption: no new copywriting budget]

Clarifying questions (ask before starting)

  1. Is the goal more sign-ups, or purely a visual refresh? (Changes everything below.)
  2. What's the actual launch date, and is it movable?
  3. Can I rewrite the headline and CTA text, or is copy locked?

First action

Pull the current page's sign-up numbers and screenshot the hero — you can't show a "lift" without today's baseline, and that's a 30-minute task you can do right now.

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