AI Training: Giving Your AI Something to Do

From Rick

Stop asking. Give it a job.

Today I trained the Inspired team on Claude Cowork. The point is simple. Stop asking Claude a question. Give it a job. A question gets a paragraph. A job gets a deliverable.

This package is for you: the teaching, the slides, and the video. Use it the same way I use it at Inspired. Tell Claude what to do. Name the input. Name the output. Review before anything leaves your hands.

A question gets a paragraph. A job gets a deliverable.

Give Claude a job, not a question.

Teaching credit

AI training with Rick Piña. Packaged for The Grace Life Community on Patreon so members can see how Rick trains a team to use Claude Cowork for real work, not just chat.

In This Guide

01Before You Start 02The One Rule 03The 5-Line Job Brief 04Nine Jobs by Role 05Four Guardrails 06Homework

Step 01

Before you start

Check two settings before you run anything.

Model: Fable 5.1. That is the current release. Check the model name at the top of every new Cowork chat.
Effort: Low or Medium. Low for daily work. Medium when the job has several steps or several files.
High or Extra High: Only when Rick asked. These settings empty your five-hour usage window fast. If you think a job needs High, ask first.

Rule of thumb: start every job on Low. If the output misses the point, move to Medium and run it again. Do not start on High to be safe. Effort does not fix a bad prompt. The 5-line job brief does.

Step 02

The one rule

A question gets a paragraph. A job gets a deliverable.

Do not ask Claude what you should do. Tell it what to produce.

Question	Job
How should I follow up on this quote?	Read the last 30 days of email with this customer, list every open quote, and draft one follow-up per quote in my voice into Drafts.
What is in this RFP?	Read every file in this folder, build the compliance matrix as an Excel file, and flag anything that disqualifies us.
Summarize this transcript.	Read the transcript, write the meeting notes in our format, and create one Monday.com item per action item with an owner and a due date.

Step 03

The 5-line job brief

Type these five lines every time until it is muscle memory.

Input: the folder, email thread, Monday.com board, or file it reads.
Role: who Claude is for this job (act as our proposal compliance lead).
Output: the artifact you want (Excel, Word, draft email, Monday.com item) and its name.
Rules: what it must not do (no sending, no pricing, no guessing).
Review: what you will check before it leaves your hands.

Example brief

Input: the Quotes folder and my inbox for the last 14 days.

Role: inside sales coordinator.

Output: one Excel file named Open Quotes 2026-09-04 with customer, quote number, amount, date sent, last customer reply, and next step.

Rules: read only, do not send anything, mark any field you cannot confirm as Unavailable.

Review: I will spot-check three rows against the source emails.

Step 04

Nine jobs

Same method. Different roles. Pick the one that matches your work.

Job 1 · Inside Sales · Desi / Syrez

Open Quote Sweep

Produces: Excel tracker of open quotes plus follow-up drafts in Outlook.

Read Outlook and the Quotes folder, build the aging sheet sorted oldest first, and draft one follow-up per stale quote into Drafts. Do not send.

Job 2 · Proposals · April / Tara

RFP Kill-Shot Check

Produces: compliance matrix (Excel) and kill-shot memo (Word).

Read every file in the opportunity folder. Build the matrix for Sections L and M and the PWS. Flag anything that would disqualify the bid. Do not draft proposal content yet.

Job 3 · VMI · Eric / Stewart / Brian

Build Variance Report

Produces: weekly exception workbook plus a customer status draft.

Pull the build tracker, the Fishbowl export, and vendor email from the last 7 days. Build one exception report. Draft the status email to Drafts. Never invent a date.

Job 4 · Finance · Desi / Heine

Invoice Aging Nudge

Produces: AR aging workbook by portal plus polite nudge drafts.

Pull aging from QuickBooks, group by how each customer is invoiced, and draft one payment-status email per past-due customer into Drafts. Do not change QuickBooks.

Job 5 · HR · Kim

Job Description to Interview Kit

Produces: LinkedIn/Indeed posting, screening guide, and scorecard.

Read the approved job description and company context. Produce the posting, ten screening questions with strong-answer notes, and a 1 to 5 scorecard. Do not invent salary or start dates.

Job 6 · Client Services · Karen

Certification and Partner Clock

Produces: compliance clock workbook with certification and partner tabs.

Read the certifications board and partner notes. Flag anything due within 90 days. Write Unavailable for missing dates so gaps stay visible.

Job 7 · Sales Team

OEM Exam Prep Coach

Produces: one Word study kit with plan, topic notes, traps, and a quiz.

Paste the exact partner exam name and days available. Research the official outline, build the study plan, and mark anything unconfirmed as Unavailable.

Job 8 · Engineering · Blaine / Michael

Field Photos to Site Survey Report

Produces: site survey report (Word) with captioned photos, plus BOM (Excel).

Read every photo and the notes file. Build the report area by area. Mark every quantity Counted or Estimated. Never invent a measurement or part number.

Job 9 · Sales Lead · April

RFI Past Performance Pull

Produces: past performance match memo (Word).

Read the RFI and the past performance catalog. Rank the best matches, list the gaps, and never cite work that is still in proposal.

Step 05

Four guardrails

Same every time. No exceptions.

Drafts only

Claude writes to Drafts. A human presses send.

Read everything

Treat every file as a draft until you have checked it against the source.

Never let it guess

Write Unavailable belongs in every prompt. A blank cell is honest. A made-up date is a liability.

Right audience, right file

Pricing, margin, and salary do not travel to people who should not see them. Name the audience in the prompt and check the file before it goes.

Claude writes to Drafts. A human presses send.

Step 06

Homework

Pick one job. Run it once. Low first. Save as a skill. Bring the output next Friday.

Run the prompt as written. Then change one line to fit your actual work.
Run your job on Low first. Note whether you had to move to Medium.
Save the working version as a skill in your Cowork project so you never retype it.
If it worked, schedule it. If it broke, bring the broken output. That is the best teaching material we have.

Run one job this week

Go through the slides. Watch the training. Run one job this week. Let's discuss this in the comments.

I love you.

YEAR OF DISCOVERYGREATER IS COMING

Rick