Field Guide · Craft skills
Build a workflow
Turn one-off chats into a repeatable process your future self can trust.
From chat to workflow
A workflow is a prompt plus a place, a check, and a handoff. One-off chats die in history. Workflows survive Tuesdays.
- Trigger - when do you start? (new ticket, weekly report, first draft)
- Inputs - what must be pasted or linked? What must never be pasted?
- Steps - draft, critique, revise, verify
- Output home - where the result lives
- Owner - who signs off
Keep it small
If your workflow needs a wiki to explain, it is too big. Aim for a half-page checklist you will actually use.
Example: client status email
- Trigger: Friday 2pm or end of a milestone
- Inputs: redacted bullet notes (no ticket dumps)
- Steps: outline without AI, ask model for clarity pass, human verify dates/names, send
- Output home: email draft folder or CRM note
- Owner: the person whose name is on the send
Anti-patterns
- A mega-prompt that tries to do every job
- No owner (the model “owns” it)
- Saving secrets inside the reusable template
- Skipping verify because “we did this last week”
Practice
Write one workflow card for a recurring task this week. Run it once. Edit the card after reality punches it.
See also
- Pulse: What belongs in a personal AI ops log?
- Field Guide: Ask better
- Field Guide: Verify
- Next: Images and code