Stop using AI as a search engine with extra steps.

Short summary

Language models are most effective when treated as thinking partners rather than search engines. Effective prompts include full context: what you're building, constraints, what you've tried, and what feels wrong. Rather than asking clean questions, describe the actual messy problem—the context is everything.

• •LLMs work best as thinking partners, not search engines for pre-existing answers
• •Include full context in prompts: what you're building, constraints, uncertainty, and what feels wrong
• •Don't clean up the mess before asking—messy real-world context enables deeper problem-solving

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.