Writing an assistant’s instructions
Structure testable instructions, written with the future users.
ObjectiveBy the end of this lesson, you will be able to write testable assistant instructions together with the future users, structured into role, result, sources, limits and what to do when in doubt.
The instructions are the permanent text that frames an assistant. They say who it serves, what it must produce, how, and what it must not do. This is the participatory co-design step of the WorkStreams cycle: the instructions are written with the people who will use the assistant, not only for them.
The structure that works
- Role and audience: “You help the accounting team answer staff questions about expense claims.”
- Expected result: format, length, language and tone.
- Reference sources: the documents that prevail when in doubt.
- Limits: what it does not do, and who it refers the person to.
- Behaviour when unsure: ask a question or say it does not know, never make things up.
Write testable instructions. “Be clear” cannot be tested. “Answer in five lines at most and cite the relevant article of the policy” can be tested. Every sentence of the instructions must be checkable against a real answer.
A co-design workshop
- Bring together three or four future users for an hour.
- Ask each of them to bring two real questions they received recently.
- Have Learnya write a first version of the instructions from the workshop notes.
- Test the questions together in a conversation of the project.
- Correct the instructions on the spot, then ask the same questions again to compare.
The workshop has a second effect, as important as the first. The people who wrote the instructions understand why the assistant answers the way it does, and they stand up for it with their colleagues. An assistant designed without them remains someone else’s tool.