MEPX
Chapter 7 of 10All chapters
  1. 1What a prompt is doing
  2. 2Giving context
  3. 3Examples
  4. 4Multi-step problems
  5. 5Controlling format
  6. 6Roles and personas
  7. 7Iterating
  8. 8Evaluating prompts
  9. 9Prompt injection
  10. 10Folklore and limits

Chapter 7 of 10

Iterating

Treat it as a conversation.

Refine rather than restart

Say what is wrong with the draft and what to change. Two or three rounds of targeted feedback beat one enormous initial prompt.

  • Ask it to critique its own output against your criteria, then revise.
  • Keep prompts that work; a personal library saves real time.

When to start fresh

Long conversations accumulate contradictions and dilute attention. Summarise what matters into a new conversation when quality drifts.