Design and foundation
Define the assistant mission and audience
Turn a broad idea into one clear mission with measurable success.
Lesson time: 12 minutes
In this lesson
Start with the problem, not the tool
A useful assistant solves a specific need for a specific person. Define the user, the task or decision they need to complete, and what makes an answer useful.
Mission boundaries
State what the assistant does and refuses, the information it needs, and when it should clarify or hand off to a person.
A simple success measure
Choose three testable criteria such as factual accuracy, a clear next step, and no invented unavailable data.
Key takeaways
- ✓Start with a specific user and task.
- ✓Write boundaries before instructions.
- ✓Turn quality into testable criteria.
Practice now
Write a four-sentence mission card: user, task, desired result, and three out-of-scope items.