# Turn a repeated task into a one-page procedure

Original 5HO practice material. Fictional example. Reviewed 5 October 2026.

## Useful result

You'll finish with a short procedure another person can follow and test.

A procedure is useful when someone can follow it on an ordinary Tuesday without calling its author. Write the trigger, inputs, steps and checks. Leave the inspirational opening paragraph for another document.

## Set up

Allow 25 minutes. Use a task you can describe from experience, or the practice task below. A text editor and chat assistant are enough.

## Practice input

Task: prepare weekly attendance summary. Input: CSV with session_id and attendee_id. Count unique attendees per session. Blank attendee IDs go to a review list. Output: session totals and exceptions.

## Do the task

1. Describe one normal run before asking AI to organise it.
2. Include the blank-ID exception and what counts as finished.
3. Give the procedure to a colleague with a small test file and note where they need help.

## Prompt

Write a one-page procedure for this attendance summary. Include trigger, input columns, counting rule, blank-ID handling, output files and final check. Do not introduce new software.

## Refine

Add a worked case: session A has IDs 01, 01, 02 and one blank. Explain how duplicates and the blank are handled.

## Expected checks

Session A should have two unique known attendees and one blank row for review. Counting rows would produce the wrong result.

## Save

Save attendance-procedure.md with its test case and a named maintainer. Revise it when the input format changes.

## Sources

- Writing clear prompts: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/10032626-prompt-engineering-best-practices-for-chatgpt