Brief Claude like a colleague

Most disappointing answers from Claude come from thin briefs, not from a weak model. This article shows a simple way to brief Claude the way you would brief a capable new colleague who knows nothing about your company yet. You do not need special tricks or magic words.

The colleague test

Before you send a prompt, ask yourself: if I sent this message to a smart freelancer who started today, could they do a good job? If they would need to come back with five questions, Claude needs those answers too.

Compare these two briefs.

Write a LinkedIn post about our new website.

We are a four-person bakery in Utrecht. We just launched a new website
where people can pre-order bread for Saturday pickup. Write a LinkedIn
post for our company page announcing it.

Audience: local customers and neighbouring businesses, not other bakers.
Tone: warm and plain, no hype, no emojis.
Length: under 120 words.
Must include: pre-order closes Thursday 20:00, link at the end.
Avoid: the words "excited" and "thrilled".

The second one takes a minute longer to write and saves you three rounds of edits.

The five parts of a good brief

You do not need all five every time, but check them for anything that matters.

1. Context: who you are, what the situation is, what has already happened.
2. Goal: what the result is for and what a good outcome looks like.
3. Audience: who will read or use it, and what they already know.
4. Constraints: length, tone, format, words or claims to avoid, deadlines.
5. Examples: a sample of what good looks like, such as a previous email you liked.

Tip: Explain why, not just what. “Keep it short because it will be read on a phone” works better than “keep it short”, because Claude can then make sensible choices you did not spell out.

Give Claude the material

Claude can only use what it can see. Paste or attach the source material instead of describing it.

• Attach the PDF, spreadsheet or screenshot.
• Paste the email thread you are replying to.
• Share last year’s version of the document you want updated.

When a prompt mixes instructions and material, separate them clearly so Claude knows which is which:

Summarise the meeting notes below for the client. Use three headings:
Decisions, Open questions, Next steps.

<notes>
[paste the notes here]
</notes>

The tags are not special code. They are simply a clear way to say “this part is the material”.

Let Claude ask first

For bigger tasks, start with a short brief and ask Claude to interview you:

I need a one-page proposal for a website redesign for a client.
Before you write anything, ask me the questions you need answered.
Ask them all at once, numbered.

Answer the questions in one reply, then ask for the draft. This is often faster than writing the perfect brief yourself.

Iterate like you would with a person

The first answer is a draft. Give feedback that is specific and actionable.

Instead of	Try
“Make it better”	“The second paragraph repeats the first. Cut it and add one concrete example.”
“Too formal”	“Write it the way you would say it to a client you have known for years.”
“Wrong”	“The deadline is the 14th, not the 12th. Fix that and keep the rest.”

If a chat goes in circles, start a new chat with an improved brief that includes what you learned. A fresh start is often better than ten corrections.

Common mistakes

• Asking for everything at once. Split a big job into steps: outline first, then sections, then a final edit.
• Hiding the real goal. If the email is meant to get a late invoice paid, say so.
• No format. If you want a table, bullet list or a specific heading structure, say it.
• Trusting facts blindly. Ask Claude to mark anything it is unsure about, and check names, numbers and dates yourself.

Make good briefs reusable

When you notice you are typing the same background into every chat, stop repeating yourself:

• Put background and standing instructions in a Project.
• Turn a repeatable way of working (house style, report format, checklist) into a skill.

Next steps

• Give Claude lasting context with Projects
• What a skill is and when to make one
• Connect Claude to your tools