Give your chatbot a brief

You've brought someone onto your team before, so you already know how to work with a chatbot. Think about the last person you brought onto your team. They came with new skills and new energy, but they didn't know your organization yet. Then they spent time in the room. They saw the pictures on the wall. They sat in on meetings and they got to know the team. Your chatbot isn't in the room. It knows a lot about the world, but nothing about yours, except what you tell it. So give it what you'd give a new hire: a brief. Background: who you are and who you serve. Role: the role you want it to play. Instructions: the task. Expectations: what good looks like. And follow-up: ask it to check in with you. For example: "Ask me questions." "Am I thinking about this the right way?" "Does this make sense?" A good brief holds a lot more than one line. The full brief from this post is in Friday's newsletter. Write your background once, keep it handy. For each task, add the role, the instructions and what good looks like. And always end with a follow-up, so you can tap into that expertise. Next time, I'll look at how you can use one brief in many chats.