Pentagon Model
Pillar 4: Task & Outputs
A practical course for building clear and powerful AI prompts
The fourth pillar is Task & Output — deliberately merged into one, because "what you want" and "in what shape" are two faces of a single request. Here you state the action (analyze, write, compare…) and the output shape that arrives ready to use.
Core principle
A request without an output shape arrives as a text blob you must reorganize. Asking for clear outputs (summary, table, risk list, conditional recommendation) makes the result structured and paste-ready.Ask for your outputs explicitly
- An executive summary up front.
- An organized table.
- A notes / risks list.
- A conditional recommendation when needed.
- Questions about missing data.
Vague
Review this plan.Task + output
Review this plan and give me: (1) an executive summary, (2) a strengths/weaknesses table, (3) three actionable recommendations.Pro tip
Number your outputs (1, 2, 3). Numbering forces the AI to cover each one and makes completeness easy to check.
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Check Your Understanding (2 questions)
Question 1
Why does Task & Outputs combine the action and output shape?
💡 Why: Stating what + in what shape together yields a paste-ready result, so action and outputs are one pillar.
Question 2
"Give me the result in a 3-column table" mainly specifies:
💡 Why: Specifying the shape (a 3-column table) is part of Task & Outputs.
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