Module 2 · Prompting — getting a real answer Lesson 7 of 15
When the answer is wrong: iterate instead of restarting
A bad answer is information. The failure is a large, confident build with one wrong assumption baked into the database schema, which then costs more to fix than to rebuild. Keep the conversation, name the fault, and correct one thing at a time — restarting from scratch throws away everything the model has already got right.
The concept
There are four things that usually went wrong, and each has a different fix. It answered a different question — restate the TASK as one sentence. It made things up — supply the facts yourself and say "use only these". It wrote too much — ask for the length first. It sounded like a machine — ask it to rewrite for one specific reader and cut every third word.
Say the fault out loud, in the message. "This is too long for a WhatsApp message and it sounds like a brochure." A model cannot fix a problem you have not named, and naming the problem is also how you find out what you actually wanted.
Follow-ups that work: "shorter", "only the parts that are true for a fresher", "rewrite the second sentence three ways", "what would you have to check before I send this?". That last one is worth using before anything goes out with your name on it.
Worked example
Ask for the data model first and approve it before a single screen is built. Schema decisions are the expensive ones to change.
Your practice task
Take the worst answer you have received this week and correct it in three follow-up messages without retyping the original prompt. Notice how much faster it converges.
Do this before moving on. Reading a solution teaches the shape of it; typing it teaches you.
Key takeaway
There are four things that usually went wrong, and each has a different fix.
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