4 ways to use ChatGPT to level up product work (with specific prompts)
Bonus: the best custom instruction for better response
Thanks for clicking open yet another newsletter about ChatGPT. I write about the art of product management and curate interesting reads about product, health tech, and media that are worth a “double take” 👀.
I’ve been collecting and testing out a bunch of ways to use ChatGPT to improve both the productivity and quality of my work as a PM. Other than Lenny’s article, I haven’t found much good content on this beyond the basic use cases. So I thought I’d share a few uncommon and powerful ones, with specific prompts.
But first: add custom instructions
A good custom instruction makes a HUGE difference in the quality of ChatGPT’s response, because it takes your prompt AND the custom instruction as its input sequence. I’ve tried a bunch and found Dustin’s to be the best. It made a noticeable difference in the quality of response. He’s tested it over many iterations to allow ChatGPT to “think out loud” about the instruction and also refer back to that thinking as it spits out the response.
I modified it with another Redditor’s instructions which adds 3 reflective questions at the end of its response. This was also a game changer as it sparks creative and surprising considerations that are relevant to my original question.
The combined version I’ve come up with gives me highly relevant and thoughtful responses in just the right level of verbosity and style, and feeds me interesting questions that stimulate a deeper understanding of the topic. Just copy it, trust me!
[What would you like ChatGPT to know about you to provide better responses?]
# About Me
- product manager at a B2B SaaS company.
- (add some relevant info about your location, personal context, interests, etc.)
# My Expectations of Assistant
- Give specific detail (such as product name) when suggesting ideas and tools
- Prioritize brevity in response
## Language and Tone
- Use EXPERT terminology for the given context
- Apply the wit of Oscar Wilde
- AVOID: superfluous prose, self-references, expert advice disclaimers, and apologies
## Content Depth and Breadth
- Present a holistic understanding of the topic
- Provide comprehensive and nuanced analysis and guidance
- For complex queries, demonstrate your reasoning process with step-by-step explanations
## Methodology and Approach
- Mimic socratic self-questioning and theory of mind as needed
- Do not elide or truncate code in code samples
## Formatting Output
- Use markdown, emoji, Unicode, lists and indenting, headings, and tables only to enhance organization, readability, and understanding
- CRITICAL: Embed all HYPERLINKS inline as **Google search links** {emoji related to terms} [short text](https://www.google.com/search?q=expanded+search+terms)
- Especially add HYPERLINKS to entities such as papers, articles, books, organizations, people, legal citations, technical terms, and industry standards using Google Search[How would you like ChatGPT to respond?]
VERBOSITY: set response detail to detailed with examples
1. Start response with:
|Attribute|Description|
|--:|:--|
|Domain > Expert|{the broad academic or study DOMAIN the question falls under} > {within the DOMAIN, the specific EXPERT role most closely associated with the context or nuance of the question}|
|Keywords|{ CSV list of 6 topics, technical terms, or jargon most associated with the DOMAIN, EXPERT}|
|Goal|{ qualitative description of current assistant objective}|
|Assumptions|{ assistant assumptions about user question, intent, and context}|
|Methodology|{any specific methodology assistant will incorporate}|
2. Return your response, and remember to incorporate:
- Assistant Rules and Output Format
- embedded, inline HYPERLINKS as **Google search links** [text to link](https://www.google.com/search?q=expanded+search+terms) as needed
- step-by-step reasoning if needed
3. End response with:
> _See also:_ [2-3 related searches]
> [text to link](https://www.google.com/search?q=expanded+search+terms)
>_Ask three follow-up questions that encourage deeper thinking on the subject or on related topics. Go beyond merely answering my questions by exploring additional elements that I may not have considered. I am particularly interested in questions that establish creative and surprising links between areas that do not seem related on the surface but are highly relevant for a more comprehensive understanding. Format as Q1, Q2, and Q3.4 categories of use cases
These are 4 categories of ChatGPT use cases for non technical PMs. More technical PMs might also use it for coding and writing SQL queries, which can be undoubtedly helpful, but won’t be covered here.
Ideate
Write
Summarize
Assist
1. Ideate 💡
ChatGPT can be a sounding board that doesn’t get tired of bouncing off ideas with you. You might not choose any of its ideas, but it’s a great starting point and if anything can help eliminate what you don’t want.
Generate questions.
For meetings. It’s smart practice to simulate important meetings such as high stake presentations by anticipating tough questions.
“I’m a product manager presenting about [topic] to [audience, list their titles]. The goal of this presentation is to [insert goal, eg. get investment for new initiative, reach a decision, etc.] Some potential challenges are: [insert challenges]. Help me prepare by coming up with 2-3 questions to anticipate from each audience.For user interviews. Similarly, provide some context about the product and feature you’d want feedback on, the goal of the feature (eg. to increase engagement), and ask for a list of questions to ask users.
Create frameworks
GPT is quite good at adapting a known concept/framework to the context of your work. For example, for PMs who want to practice their storytelling skills, the book “Save the Cat” has an infamous storytelling structure widely used in screenwriting. I asked GPT to adapt it into a storytelling framework for telling product stories. See the full chat here.
Bring alternative perspectives
I found this use case on Reddit: identify blind spots when designing a new feature.
I'm a product manager for [product]. I'm designing a new feature that [what it does]. Currently, [describe current behavior]. The new feature's behavior is [ describe new behavior ] with a goal to [eg. increase engagement]. What are the technical considerations for the new behavior? What are potential reasons that this new behavior will not be effective in increasing user engagement?
Using GPT to generate product name ideas? Not helpful. Even if you specified “uncommon”, “non-cliché”, etc., it just doesn’t have enough context to get to the creative essence of the product.
2. Write 📝
This is probably the most common use case, since communication is the core of product work. GPT overcomes the initial friction to start the first draft.
Write the first draft.
I’m a product manager writing a summary document for my product for cross functional stakeholders (sales, marketing, customer success) to have a broad understanding of my product. The product is [description, features, value, target customer]. Please write a 1 page document in a friendly, professional tone, with headers for each section.Edit or critique your writing. Continue from the above context of the first draft or refine something you’ve already written.
Give me 3 more iterations, one for sales to help them progress warm leads, one for marketing people to give them the right language for marketing assets such as website, one for customer success people to help address common questions asked by customers.Keep asking for more refinement as needed.
Now write it in a more assertive tone and begin with a concise, short paragraph summary.
3. Summarize 📜
Oh I lied, this is the most common use case for GPT. Synthesizing broad information to insight used to be a PM superpower and a chunk of it can be done well by GPT. Optimistically, this also means saving significant time for the PM to do more deep-thinking work, leading to overall better quality work.
Meeting notes. Paste transcribed meeting notes (eg. from Otter.ai) then ask for: key takeaways, follow ups, action items in bullet form
Customer feedback. Paste customer feedback and ask it to analyze trends or themes for top complaints, top features requested, top features loved, top reason for churn, etc.
Market research. This is where a long conversation with GPT is especially fruitful. Ask about a company’s product line and recent strategy; ask about market forces in an industry; ask about a company’s competitors and their differentiations.
Learn about a topic. I love this one for digging deep in something (found on Twitter/X)
Teach me how <anything> works by asking questions about my level of understanding of necessary concepts. With each response, fill in gaps in my understanding, then recursively ask me more questions to check my understanding. Explain step by stepSummarize the main concept of books. Again, see “Save the cat” example. Or here’s one for Robert Cialdini’s Persuasion. Of course this is not to replace reading books since it doesn’t capture a lot of contextual examples, but it’s helpful for nonfiction books about specific frameworks or principles.
4. Assist 🤖
The possibilities are endless here but I love these use cases found on Reddit:
Getting instructions. Eg. for manipulating Excel.
Calculations. Eg. for doing market estimations or projections.
Formatting. For putting content in your desired specifications, eg. converting to table format or adding headers.
Asking good (and the right) questions is a PM superpower. Never mind how much of GPT’s output you’ll actually use, writing prompts itself is a great practice for distilling what you’re really trying to figure out.
What are some unobvious ways you’re using ChatGPT for?
🔗 Interesting links
AI Product aggregator. This aggregator is a great way to surface new AI products to try out. Some good questions to ask when testing:
Does it enhance a task or completely replace a task?
How did the UX make the AI function valuable, or not?
How much do I have to initiate the request vs. the AI proactively accomplishing something for me?
Adam Grant’s interview about hidden potential. Many people believe they need to “get ready” first, “build their confidence” first, before they pursue a new challenge. But Adam argues that this is backward. It’s through taking on the challenge that you build confidence. “If you know you’re going to do it one day, there’s no reason why today couldn’t be that day.” His new book “Hidden Potential” is on my to-read list.
David Perell’s How I Write with Kevin Kelly. “How I Write” is an instant favorite series. David Perell interviews great writers and thinkers to give a rare look into their creative process. Kevin Kelly made up a term called “Scenius” (a scene for geniuses), which is an environment (eg. YouTube) where creators are each other’s audience. Being exposed to each other’s work motivates them to keep getting better creatively.
