How to Build a Work Instruction and Job Aid from Messy Notes

Work instructions invent a refund button and a 15-minute SLA. Notes had New Ticket, two queues, and Save. Stop there.

The matching generator is the Work Instruction and Job Aid from Messy Notes (IF/THEN Table, First-Time-User Reading Level) (Work Instruction And Job Aid From Messy Notes If Then First Time User) prompt. Browse related cards in the PromptDig library (Browse more prompts). When a filled run survives, share the version you actually use (Share a prompt).

One action per numbered step

Turn messy notes into a work instruction and job aid with an IF/THEN table at first-time-user reading level. No invented policy. Start by filling Inputs, not by asking the model to remember last week's run. If a field is blank, write NONE or NOT IN INPUTS and leave it blank through Generate. The card is built so the model cannot honestly invent a number, owner, URL, or command that you did not paste.

Paste these fields before you hit run:

Messy notes: [Notes]
Task name I allow: [Task]
Tool names I may use: [Tools]
Reading level I lock: [Level or first-time user]
Words I must not use: [Banned]
What I must never invent (policy, SLA, extra buttons): [Never]
Output format: [Format]
Language: [Lang]
Audience: [Audience]
Safety notes I allow (or NONE): [Safety]

That inventory is the honesty ledger. Anything that does not appear there is forbidden in the draft. If you catch yourself adding a nice-to-have after the run, you are no longer using the card. You are ghostwriting. Put the extra fact in Inputs and run again.

IF/THEN rows only from branches in notes

Generate is numbered on purpose. Do not skip a step because the first paragraph looked done. The early steps exist to stop later prose from smuggling claims.

Walk the Generate list in order:

1. Honesty ledger: Task, Tools, Level, Audience, Safety, Lang. Nouns from Notes. Forbidden: invented owners, SLAs, extra screens.
2. Purpose line: one sentence from Notes. If purpose is missing, write PURPOSE NOT IN NOTES.
3. Work instruction: numbered steps. Each step uses only Tools and buttons named in Notes. First-time-user sentences. One action per step.
4. IF/THEN table: rows only from branches in Notes. If a branch is missing, write NOT IN NOTES rather than inventing an else.
5. Job aid: one-page checklist twin of the steps. Same words. No new rules.
6. Safety: quote Safety or write NONE. Do not invent PPE.
7. Never: do not add a manager approval step if Notes lack it.
8. Compliance pass: quote Banned and Never hits. Cut them. Format as Format.

If a step asks for a version lock, quote the version from Inputs in the output. If a step asks for a refuse list, keep the refuse list in the published artifact, not in a sidebar you delete. Reviewers should see what the model was not allowed to do.

Keep first-time-user sentences

Most failures are the same shape: a missing field gets a confident fill. A conversion rate appears. A Gradle task appears. A flash point appears. A caption appears on a job that asked for slide text only. Your review is to search the draft for numbers, names, and commands, then grep Inputs. No match means cut.

Honor the constraints as hard stops, not vibes:

• Work instruction and job aid from Notes. Not a policy and not accreditation.
• IF/THEN only from branches in Notes.
• First-time-user reading level.
• Never invent SLA or extra buttons.
• No emojis.

When the card says not legal advice, not certification, not an exam dump, or not a caption engine, that sentence belongs at the top of the output. Deleting it to look more finished is how you inherit risk.

Refuse invented SLA and extra buttons

Finish with the compliance pass the prompt already asks for. Quote the banned-word hits. Cut them. Print character counts when the job has a cap. Print word counts when the job has a budget. List gaps as gaps. Five missing facts are more useful than one smooth paragraph.

Tags on the card (work instruction from messy notes, job aid if then table, first-time-user reading level) are a reminder of the job shape, not an invitation to wander into a neighboring cluster. If you need a different surface, open a different PromptDig card rather than stretching this one.

Fill the card, then run

Replace every bracket. Run on ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. Read the ledger first, then the artifact. If the model invents a commit, KPI, DOI, PEL, bid, or logo, discard the run. Tighten Inputs. Run again. Share the filled card that survived, not the first draft that sounded done.