"Be Concise" Is the Same Prompt Trap as "Act as a Senior Developer"—Specify the Rule, Not the Vibe
ClickOk5811 · reddit · 2026-09-02
The author shares a prompt-engineering lesson: "be concise" fails for the same reason "act as a senior developer" does—it names an outcome without specifying the decision rule, so the model guesses.
- Attempt 1: "be concise" → shorter sentences, not less information; output got denser, not more useful
- Attempt 2: "under 100 words" → model cut the wrong things to hit the number, sometimes dropping the one detail that mattered
- Attempt 3: "state the conclusion first, then only include reasoning that would change the conclusion if removed" → converting a length instruction into a necessity rule finally worked
The transferable principle: stop describing the vibe you want and start describing the rule that would actually produce it.
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