# Make AI ask me the questions that matter before it answers

Makes AI identify missing information and ask the fewest questions needed before producing a high-quality result.

- Topic: Working with AI
- Framework: Few-Shot
- Level: Standard
- Tags: Rewrite & Edit, Fill-in Template, Interactive, Step-by-step
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/make-ai-ask-me-the-questions-that-matter-before-it-answers

## Prompt

```text
Before you answer or produce anything, find out what you are missing.

**What I need:** [MY REQUEST - e.g. "a recommendation on whether to move our team to a four-day week"]
**What I have already told you or pasted:** [CONTEXT, DOCUMENTS, DATA]
**How I will use the result:** [DECISION, AUDIENCE, DEADLINE]

Step 1 - Gap check. List the missing information that could materially change your answer. For each item, say in one line how the answer would change depending on it (e.g. "if the team is customer-facing, coverage becomes the main issue"). Leave out anything that would only polish the result.

Step 2 - Ask. Turn the most important gaps into the minimum number of questions, at most 5, ordered by impact. Make each question quick to answer: offer options or ranges where possible. Combine related questions. Do not ask for information already in my context.

Step 3 - Wait for my answers. Do not start the work yet.

Step 4 - Then deliver the result. Start with a short "Assumptions I made" list for anything I did not answer, mark each assumption [ASSUMED], and note which parts of the answer would change if an assumption is wrong.

If you genuinely need nothing more, say so and go straight to the answer.
```

## What to fill in

- CONTEXT, DOCUMENTS, DATA
- DECISION, AUDIENCE, DEADLINE
- ASSUMED

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.