Drafting and Refining Content
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Most of us spend a big chunk of the day writing. Emails, messages, reports, updates. Writing plays a huge part in both work and personal life, and Claude is a really useful collaboration partner for it.
My recommendation is not to use Claude as a ghost-writer. Don't just let it write on your behalf. Stay in the loop, guide it, make sure it sounds like you and produces what you actually want. The goal is collaborator, not replacement.
Sarah's Tricky Internal Email
Sarah needs to send a sensitive internal email about a mistake that affected one of the firm's most important clients. The message needs to be firm but fair, address the issue without publicly blaming anyone, and leave the recipient with a clear understanding of what needs to happen next.
A strong prompt combines several elements:
- Role: Tell Claude who it should act as.
- Context: Explain the situation and the people involved.
- Constraints: Define the tone, length, and format.
- Examples: Provide previous emails that capture the desired style.
The more relevant information Claude receives, the more closely the result will match your needs. Adding examples of your previous writing is especially powerful because it helps Claude mirror your tone, structure, and communication style.
The result is often a draft that feels natural, addresses the problem appropriately, and requires only minor edits before being sent. Rather than sounding generic, it sounds like something you would have written yourself.
You're an experienced operations manager at a 50-person UK accounting firm. Help me draft an email to Mark, one of my team leads. For context: Hartwell is one of our biggest clients, their CFO emailed our MD yesterday to flag that the Q1 handover pack from one of the juniors was below standard - late by two days, figures had to be re-pulled, the cover note didn't reference an item Hartwell had specifically asked us to comment on. Tom is normally one of our stronger juniors but he's been having a bad month. The tone we want is firm and fair - the slip can't be brushed off because Hartwell is too important, but I don't want Tom publicly blamed. I want Mark to leave the email knowing exactly what action to take this week, without being micromanaged. Format: short, under 200 words. Internal voice - conversational but pointed.
To make it even better, Sarah can attach a PDF with a few examples of effective emails she's sent to team leads recently. That gives Claude a template to draw inspiration from for tone and structure.
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