The Perfect AI Brief
A free guide by Kamran Imam — Instagram · TikTok · YouTube
Here’s the boring secret behind every “insane AI workflow” you’ve seen: the person gave the AI a good brief. AI quality tracks input quality almost embarrassingly closely — the difference between a horoscope and a tailored answer is usually one paragraph of context YOU already had. This page is that paragraph, templated.
The six-part brief
Fill once per situation, reuse forever:
WHO: I'm [name/role], working on [the thing]. My audience/customer/counterpart is [who].
SITUATION: [What's true right now — the 3-5 facts that matter, including the awkward ones.]
GOAL: I want [specific outcome], because [the real reason]. Success looks like [measurable/observable].
CONSTRAINTS: [Budget/time/tools/politics — what solutions must respect. Include "what I've already tried."]
FORMAT: Give me [a table / 3 options / a draft / step-by-step], [length], for [who will consume it].
QUALITY BAR: [What good looks like, what to avoid, your voice if it's writing.] When unsure about facts, say so rather than guessing.Why each part earns its keep
WHO kills generic framing. SITUATION is the part people skip and then wonder why the answer ignored their reality — include the awkward facts; the AI can’t navigate around what it can’t see. GOAL with a because lets the AI solve your actual problem instead of your literal request (often better). CONSTRAINTS turn “great idea in theory” answers into usable ones — and “already tried” prevents the top-3 obvious suggestions you’ve already burned. FORMAT prevents the 2,000-word essay when you needed a table. QUALITY BAR is where hallucination-resistance and your voice live.
Three ways to deploy it
- Per-task: paste the filled brief as message one of any serious chat. Thirty seconds; changes everything after it.
- Standing briefs: keep 2-3 filled versions in your notes — “my business,” “my job search,” “my content” — and paste the relevant one. (This is also exactly what Projects are for: /r/setup.)
- The meta-move: too lazy to fill it? Paste the empty template and say:
Interview me one question at a time to fill this out for [situation].The AI builds its own brief. This is the single most underrated prompt I know.
The test that converts skeptics
Take a question you asked recently that got a mediocre answer. Ask it again with a brief in front. Same AI, same question, different universe. The model didn’t get smarter — it finally got told what you actually needed.
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