Day 2: Steel-man your next idea
The three-word prompt that catches so many blind spots.
Yesterday I promised the first real tip would be a three-word prompt that catches blind spots. Here it is:
"Steel-man my idea."
That's the entire prompt. Type it after explaining anything you're about to ship — a memo, a launch plan, a hire, a feature, a pitch. The AI builds the strongest possible case for your idea, and in doing so reveals the load-bearing assumption you didn't notice you were making.
Then the magic move: ask the same model "now steel-man the opposite." You'll see the version of the argument your skeptics will use against you — written more articulately than any of them will ever bother to.
Why it works: most "feedback" is people imagining what they'd do in your shoes. Steel-manning forces the AI to imagine someone smarter than you arguing both sides. The signal-to-noise is dramatically higher.
Try it once on something you're about to ship this week. Reply and tell me what surfaced.
— Ivy
P.S. Tomorrow: the single highest-leverage suffix you can add to any prompt. Three more words. Even bigger payoff.