AI Tools & Prompting

Be specific & give context

Tell the AI who you are, what you're working on, and what format you need. "I'm a product owner at a govt agency. Write a 1-page executive summary of..." works far better than "summarize this."

Give it a role

"Act as a FinOps consultant reviewing this contract." Roles prime the model to use the right vocabulary, tone, and depth. Critical for getting expert-level outputs.

Use examples

Show the output you want. "Write something like this: [example]." Examples are the fastest way to get formatting, tone, and length exactly right.

Iterate, don't restart

"Make it shorter." "More formal." "Add a section on cost." Build on what you get — don't start over. Treat it like a conversation with a smart colleague.

Specify the format

"Give me a bullet list." "Write this as a table." "Keep it under 200 words." "Use headers." Format instructions dramatically improve usability of outputs.

Ask it to think first

"Think through this step by step before answering." Prompting the model to reason before it responds dramatically improves accuracy on complex questions.

Executive Summary

For leadership one-pagers and briefings.

"I'm a SaaS product owner. Write a 1-page executive summary of [topic] for senior leadership. Use plain language, lead with the business impact, and include 3 key recommendations. No jargon."

Vendor Comparison

For procurement and tool evaluation.

"Compare [Tool A] vs [Tool B] for a government agency. Focus on: pricing model, data privacy, integration with [system], and total cost of ownership. Output as a comparison table."

Professional Email

For stakeholder communication.

"Write a professional email to [audience] about [topic]. Tone: confident but collaborative. Goal: [what you want them to do]. Keep it under 150 words."

Research & Summarize

For learning new topics fast.

"Explain [topic] to me like I'm an intermediate-level professional in [field]. Cover: what it is, why it matters, the 5 key concepts I need to know, and what I should learn next."

Claude (Anthropic)

Best for: long documents, nuanced analysis, writing, research, and complex reasoning. Claude Cowork for desktop file tasks. Use Projects for ongoing work context.

ChatGPT (OpenAI)

Best for: quick answers, data analysis with Code Interpreter, image generation (DALL-E), and broad general tasks. GPT-4o is the current flagship model.

Perplexity AI

Best for: research with live web search and citations. Great for staying current on FinOps, AI, and SaaS topics — answers come with sources you can verify.

Microsoft Copilot

Best for: working inside Microsoft 365 — Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Teams. Deeply integrated with your existing tools and data. Key for NYS ITS workflows.