Reader-First Handover Guide Writer
It turns messy setup notes into a short guide that gets a newcomer to their first task straight away. Dropping process chatter and hedging, while still keeping to what the notes support, makes the result clearer and more trustworthy.
Struggled in our testThe guide is well ordered and usable, and it ends with the defaults line. But it comes to roughly 360 words, over the 350 limit. It also keeps process history the prompt said to remove: the "set up on 3 Nov" line and "It created duplicates when tried". The Background section repeats facts from earlier in the guide.
The prompt
Act as a practical senior colleague who writes handover documents that get people working quickly.
Task: Turn the working notes below into a first-day guide for {reader_profile}. Their goal is {first_task}.
Notes:
{working_notes}
Steps:
1. Decide sensible defaults for any ordinary choices the notes leave open, and state each one briefly rather than asking questions.
2. Remove process history, audit trails and defensive disclaimers. Keep only facts the reader needs to act, and never claim anything the notes do not support.
3. Order the guide so the reader can complete {first_task} before reading anything else.
4. Move background, known quirks and troubleshooting to the end, each in one or two lines.
5. Check the finished guide as the reader would: could they start without asking anyone?
Output: A guide under 350 words with a one-line summary, numbered start-up steps, then a short "If something goes wrong" section. Finish with a line listing the defaults you chose.
Change the parts in curly braces. Use it after finishing a setup or project, when your notes are chronological but the next person needs a quick start.
What happened when we ran it
We sent
Act as a practical senior colleague who writes handover documents that get people working quickly. Task: Turn the working notes below into a first-day guide for a new part-time bookkeeper who has just been given access to our accounting software and has never used it before. Their goal is recording this week's supplier invoices and matching them to bank payments. Notes: Set up Xero on 3 Nov. Spent ages checking permissions, all fine in the end. Logins go through the shared company Google account. Supplier invoices arrive in the invoices@ inbox, usually PDFs. Bank feed for the business current account refreshes overnight, so payments appear the next morning. Use the 'Bills' screen to enter invoices, then 'Reconcile' to match them. Tried a CSV import but it duplicated entries, so avoid it. Our VAT scheme is standard, quarterly, and the default VAT rate on bills is 20 per cent. Ask Priya if a supplier is missing from the contacts list. Steps: 1. Decide sensible defaults for any ordinary choices the notes leave open, and state each one briefly rather than asking questions. 2. Remove process history, audit trails and defensive disclaimers. Keep only facts the reader needs to act, and never claim anything the notes do not support. 3. Order the guide so the reader can complete recording this week's supplier invoices and matching them to bank payments before reading anything else. 4. Move background, known quirks and troubleshooting to the end, each in one or two lines. 5. Check the finished guide as the reader would: could they start without asking anyone? Output: A guide under 350 words with a one-line summary, numbered start-up steps, then a short "If something goes wrong" section. Finish with a line listing the defaults you chose.
The model replied
# First-Day Guide: Supplier Invoices and Bank Matching in Xero
**Summary:** This week, enter each supplier invoice in Xero under Bills, then match it to its bank payment in Reconcile.
## Start-up steps
1. **Log in.** Sign in to Xero through the shared company Google account.
2. **Collect the invoices.** Open the invoices@ inbox. Supplier invoices usually arrive as PDFs. Save or open every one dated this week.
3. **Go to Bills.** Select a new bill for each invoice.
4. **Check the supplier.** Pick the supplier from the contacts list. If it isn't there, ask Priya to add it before you continue.
5. **Enter the details.** Fill in the supplier's invoice number, invoice date, due date, description and amount. Leave the VAT rate at the default 20 per cent unless the invoice clearly shows otherwise. Attach the PDF to the bill.
6. **Approve the bill.** Save it as approved so it shows as awaiting payment.
7. **Check the bank feed.** The business current account feed refreshes overnight, so a payment made today appears tomorrow morning. Only match payments that have appeared.
8. **Go to Reconcile.** Open the business current account. For each bank line, match it to the corresponding bill. The amounts should agree.
9. **Leave unmatched items.** Any bill with no payment yet stays open. Revisit it after the next overnight refresh.
10. **Final check.** At the end of the week, confirm every invoice received has a bill and every available payment is matched.
## If something goes wrong
- **Supplier missing:** Ask Priya to add it to contacts.
- **Payment not showing:** Wait for the overnight refresh and check again the next morning.
- **Duplicate entries:** Don't use CSV import. It created duplicates when tried. Enter bills manually in Bills.
## Background
- VAT scheme is standard, accounted quarterly. The default rate on bills is 20 per cent.
- Xero was set up on 3 Nov, and access is through the shared Google account.
**Defaults chosen:** invoices dated this week are in scope; bills are entered manually with the PDF attached; bills are saved as approved; the 20 per cent VAT default is kept unless the invoice states otherwise; the invoice number, dates, description and amount are the fields entered; matching is done only on payments that have appeared in the feed.
Run on Claude Sonnet 5.5, 03 Nov 2026. Automatic check: 2 out of 5.
Mentioned for
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini
Where it came from
Found on GitHub, shared by NB-Corp: NB-Corp/gpt-with-taste.
This is our own version of the idea, written and tested by us. The original may differ.