2.3free~5 min
Task — the verb, the bound, the deliverable
Artifact: your task line rewritten with a sharper verb and a bound
1. What the task line is
The task line is the one sentence that tells the model what to do. It has three parts:
- The verb. Specific action. Not look at, not help with. Use refactor, list, diagnose, summarize, translate, generate, compare, score.
- The bound. How much, how many, how long. Three highest-impact issues. One paragraph. Under 200 words. The first five edge cases.
- The deliverable. What concrete thing you'll have at the end. The refactored function. The bug list. The PR description.
Most task lines are missing the bound. Add a bound and the model stops sprawling.
2. Vague verbs and what they cost you
A starter map. The cost of the vague verb is wandering, hedging output.
| Vibe verb | Sharp verb |
|---|---|
| look at | review, audit, score, diff against |
| help with | write, generate, refactor, fix |
| think about | compare, argue for / against, list pros and cons |
| improve | simplify, optimize for X, rewrite for clarity |
| make it better | name three issues with the highest impact and rewrite to address them |
| tell me about | summarize in three bullet points, explain to a junior in plain words |
The sharper verb isn't longer. It's just more specific about what action you want.
3. The bound is leverage
Same task, with and without a bound.
textVibe — no bound
Review this function and tell me what's wrong with it.textSpec — bound
Review this function. Name the three highest-impact issues — measured by 'how badly would this hurt in production.' Skip style nits.The unbound prompt produces a long list with everything ordered by whatever the model felt like that day. The bounded prompt produces three things, sorted by impact. The bounded version is also a forcing function on you — highest-impact makes you read the answer with a critical eye.
4. Try it
Look at your last prompt.