Stop 'Prompt Engineering' and Just Talk to Your AI

Why the secret to better AI results isn't a technical skill, but a human one.

I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of the term "prompt engineering." It makes talking to an AI sound like you need a special degree or some advanced technical knowledge. And that's just not true.

That kind of jargon makes technology feel out of reach for many business owners who could really benefit from it. It puts up a wall where there doesn't need to be one. I want to argue that getting what you need from an AI is less about "engineering" and a lot more about having a good conversation. If you can explain an idea to a colleague or brief a new intern, you already have all the skills you need.

Unlearning Our Old Tech Habits

For years, we've trained ourselves to talk to computers through a search box. We used short, choppy keywords like "men's shoes Montreal size 9" or “Thai restaurants near me”, because that was the only way to get the results we wanted.

We were also conditioned by our first interactions with voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant. We learned to bark orders at them using a very specific structure because they couldn't understand nuance and often got things wrong. It’s like when you try to send a quick text, “Hey Siri, tell my wife I’ll see her soon,” and it sends, “I’ll see a baboon.” These kinds of mix-ups are funny, but they taught us to be overly rigid with our commands.

Sticking with these old habits limits what you can do with today's AI. These new tools are built for natural language. Instead of treating them like Siri or a search bar, we need to start talking to them as if we're walking into a store and speaking to the person who asks, "Hi, how can I help you?" We have to unlearn these old patterns to have a real, productive conversation.

The New Approach: Think 'New Hire,' Not New Software

The best way I've found to think about it is this: treat the AI like a brand new, very capable, but totally uninformed team member.

Your new intern needs a good briefing to do their job well. The same goes for your AI.

• Give it a Role: Tell it who to be. "Act as a senior marketing strategist," or "You're a friendly, casual copywriter for a small business." This sets the tone immediately.
• Give it Instructions: Be clear about what you want it to do. "Write three headlines for a blog post," "Draft a follow-up email to a potential client we met at yesterday's conference," or "Summarize this article in five bullet points." The more specific the instruction, the better the result.
• Give it Context: This is the most important part. What is the goal? Who is the audience? What is the "why" behind your request? The same briefing documents you would give a new hire are perfect for this.
• Give it an Output Format: Tell it how you want the information back. For example, "Present this as a table with three columns," or "Write this as a friendly, two-paragraph email." This saves you a ton of time on reformatting later.
• Give it Guardrails: Tell it what not to do. For example, "I don't want this to sound like corporate jargon," or "Avoid using overly technical terms."

I recently had a great conversation about this with my friend Mitch Schwartz in a webinar about getting started with AI at work. He uses a simple framework called RICO which stands for Role, Instructions, Context, and Output. You don't need to get hung up on it, but it's a helpful mental checklist to make sure you haven't forgotten to give your new "intern" all the information it needs. I'll be embedding the full webinar video in this article so you can watch our whole discussion.

A Few Practical Tips for Better AI Chats

• Break It Down to Avoid 'AI Whack-a-Mole': Trying to get a perfect final product in one go often leads to a frustrating game of "AI Whack-a-Mole," where you're constantly making small tweaks to a bad output. Instead, break the task into smaller pieces. For example, creating a LinkedIn carousel isn't one task. It’s figuring out topics, writing the slides, creating a call to action, and then designing the images. Work with the AI on each step, one by one. It's a back-and-forth, just like any good collaboration.
• Use Your Voice: This was a great tip from Mitch. Use the voice dictation feature on your computer or phone. We often explain things more clearly and with more natural context when we speak than when we type. It's a simple hack that makes a big difference.
• Give Feedback: The conversation doesn't end when it gives you the first answer. If it's not quite right, tell it. "That's a good start, but can you make it more concise?" or "Try that again, but from the perspective of a skeptical customer."
• Trust, But Verify: Sometimes, in its effort to be helpful, an AI will confidently make things up. These are often called "hallucinations." Think of the AI's output, especially when it involves facts, statistics, or quotes, as a first draft from a very eager intern. It's a great starting point, but it always needs a final check by a human. Never copy and paste data without verifying it first.

It's Not Magic, It's Communication

The "secret" to using these powerful tools isn't a magic word or a complex formula. It’s a skill we practice every day: clear communication. And the good news is that this conversational method works no matter which tool you prefer, whether it's ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude.

This approach levels the playing field. You don't need to be a tech wizard to make AI work for your business. You just need to be clear about what you want.

So, what's one conversation you could start with AI this week to help your business?

Final Thoughts

Talking to an AI is a great exercise in communication. It forces you to be incredibly clear and articulate exactly what you want, why you want it, and how you want it done.

This process breaks a lot of the lazy communication habits and assumptions we've developed over time. In the long run, this might be a very good thing. It could rewire our brains to be more expressive and thoughtful in how we ask for things. And with that newfound expression, we'll be able to create much better things with this new tool we all have access to.