Three piles in five minutes
Lesson 1 of 6 · The Inbox
1 · Learn the move · Comparison matrix
Sixty-three messages land overnight and your executive walks in at 8:15. "Help me with the inbox" gets you a summary, and a summary is not a decision. The comparison matrix fixes that: name the columns, name the piles, and make the AI place every single message in exactly one. From, what they actually want, pile, why. Three piles only, flag it for them, draft it for approval, or kill it. You get back a page you work down instead of an inbox you scroll. And nothing sends, this pass sorts.
You are my inbox triage assistant. Below are the sender, subject, and first two lines of [N] messages from my executive's inbox. Sort every one into a table: From | What they actually want | Pile | Why. Piles: FLAG (they decide), DRAFT (I reply for approval), KILL (no reply). Every message gets one row. Write no replies and send nothing. Too vague to sort goes in FLAG with [NEEDS: what's missing]. [paste messages]
2 · Your turn. You write the prompt
It's 7:40 Tuesday, 63 messages landed in Elena Vargas's inbox overnight, and she's in the building at 8:15 wanting the short version. You have thirty-five minutes and one coffee. Write a prompt that turns the pile into a page she can work down.
Remember: the AI sees only your prompt, not this page. If the situation isn't in your prompt, it doesn't exist.
Optional. These shape the output when you run your prompt below, not your score.