An incomplete training brief: five questions before opening an AI tool
“Prepare training on the quality of meeting minutes” leaves almost everything for the AI tool to decide: the audience, duration, expected task and how to check the result. An answer can sound convincing without meeting the need. Before requesting a plan, complete the information that will actually shape the session.
Here is a fictional scenario, created to illustrate the method. A team of twelve people writes meeting minutes. Their manager requests a 45-minute session. Some participants already know how to edit a document. No internal approval procedure has been supplied. This scenario does not come from a client assignment or a trainer trial.
1. Who needs to learn, and what do they already know?
“All employees” does not help you choose an activity. Here, you could specify twelve adults who write minutes every week and know how to open a word processor. Their confidence with AI is unknown. Do not fill this gap with an assumption: prepare a version that works without AI and ask about available equipment before the session.
2. What observable outcome is required?
“Understand good meeting minutes” is too broad. A usable formulation would be: using fictional meeting notes, produce within ten minutes a one-page document separating decisions, actions, owners and points to confirm, without adding any date or commitment absent from the notes. This outcome describes a deliverable that can be checked. Our alignment matrix helps connect this outcome to the activity and assessment.
3. Which constraints and information are missing?
The duration and group size are known. Whether everyone has a computer, whether an AI tool is permitted and who approves the minutes are unknown. Record these points under “to be confirmed”. Until the actual procedure is supplied, the exercise uses fictional notes and does not claim to teach an internal rule.
4. Which activity lets learners practise the task?
A twenty-minute demonstration can show a method; it does not prove that participants can apply it. Here, each participant could sort the notes for five minutes, write a page in pairs for fifteen minutes, then check every statement against the notes for ten minutes. The remaining time covers the introduction, a separate individual assessment and final feedback. A complete 45-minute session plan illustrates this progression.
5. What evidence will support your conclusion?
Provide a second short set of notes and ask each person to produce their own document. Five criteria are enough: identifiable decisions, actions assigned to someone or marked “to be confirmed”, no invented dates, visible uncertainties and a readable page. Do not show the model answer before this stage. A trainer’s favourable impression cannot replace comparison with the stated criteria.
The completed brief, in one minute
Before: “Prepare training on the quality of meeting minutes.”
After: “Prepare a 45-minute session for twelve adults who regularly write meeting minutes. Using fictional notes, they must produce a page separating decisions, actions, owners and points to confirm, without inventing facts. Include an activity in pairs, a separate individual assessment and a five-criterion checklist. Flag the information to request about equipment, permitted tools and the internal procedure; do not invent any rules.”
This second brief makes the unknowns visible and enables you to check the AI’s answer. Before using real information, remove personal data or choose a tool approved by your organisation. Our free pack of 25 prompts helps you frame a request, flag missing information and review the result.
