The Complete AI Prompt Checklist: 20 Questions to Ask Before You Hit Send
Most bad AI outputs aren't caused by a bad model. They're caused by a bad prompt. Before you submit your next prompt, run through this checklist. Twenty questions. Takes 90 seconds. Dramatically improves output quality.
Role and Context (Questions 1-4)
1. Have I told the model what role it should play? ('You are a senior product manager...')
2. Have I described the context it needs to understand the task?
3. Have I specified the audience for the output?
4. Have I given it any relevant background it wouldn't know by default?
Task Clarity (Questions 5-8)
5. Is the task itself stated as a clear action verb? (Write, analyze, compare, summarize — not 'help me with...')
6. Have I broken a complex task into component steps if needed?
7. Is there ambiguity in any word I've used that could be interpreted multiple ways?
8. Have I specified what I do NOT want, not just what I do want?
Format and Length (Questions 9-12)
9. Have I specified the output format? (Table, bullet list, paragraph, JSON, etc.)
10. Have I specified the length or approximate word count?
11. Have I specified any headers, sections, or structure the output should follow?
12. If I need a specific tone (formal, casual, technical, plain English), have I stated it?
Constraints and Quality (Questions 13-16)
13. Have I told the model what to prioritize if it has to make trade-offs?
14. Are there hard constraints the output must meet? (Word count, compliance language, no competitor names, etc.)
15. Have I included examples of what good output looks like? (Few-shot examples dramatically improve quality for structured tasks.)
16. Is there a quality bar I should state explicitly? ('This will be sent to a Fortune 500 CEO' changes the output.)
Verification and Iteration (Questions 17-20)
17. Have I told the model to ask clarifying questions if anything is unclear, rather than guessing?
18. Do I have a plan to verify any facts, numbers, or claims in the output before using it?
19. If the first output isn't good enough, do I know which specific dimension to critique and iterate on?
20. Am I using this output as a first draft or a final product? (If final, it needs a human review pass.)
How to Use This Checklist
You don't need to answer 'yes' to all 20 questions for every prompt. A simple task needs maybe 4-5 of these. A complex deliverable that will go to a senior stakeholder needs most of them.
The value of running through the checklist isn't perfection — it's the habit of pausing before you prompt. That pause catches the 'I forgot to specify the audience' problem before you get output you can't use.
The Best Prompters Aren't Born, They're Built
Every professional who uses AI consistently well has internalized a version of this checklist. The ones who get mediocre outputs haven't.
Get the full AI Prompt Pack — 50 role-specific prompts built to pass this checklist out of the box.