"Here is the mental model that has been most helpful for me. Treat AI like an intern with zero experience. An intern fresh out of university has lots of enthusiasm and qualifications, but no real-world experience. You would not trust them to do anything unsupervised. You would explain tasks in detail. You would expect to review their work multiple times. You would give feedback and ask them to try again."
"Define the role.Start with something like "Act as a user researcher" or "Act as a copywriter." This gives the AI context for how to respond. Break it into steps.Do not just say "Analyze these interview transcripts." Instead, say "I want you to complete the following steps. One, identify recurring themes. Two, look for questions users are trying to answer. Three, note any objections that come up. Four, output a su"
Treat AI like an enthusiastic intern with no real-world experience. Provide clear role definitions such as "Act as a user researcher" or "Act as a copywriter" to set context. Break tasks into explicit steps and request discrete outputs for each step. Expect to review results, provide corrective feedback, and iterate until outcomes meet standards. Do not assume AI can perform tasks beyond its capabilities; avoid wasting time on impossible requests. Use detailed prompts, examples, constraints, and quality criteria. Apply this approach across user research, design, development, and content creation to achieve practical, reliable results.
Read at Smashing Magazine
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