Guide contents
A good first task is a small piece of work you were going to do anyway. Take meeting notes: you need to turn them into a clear summary. Using this example, we will cover what context to give Octodus, how to refine the result and what to check before you use it.
What to prepare
- Open Octodus in Telegram or on the web. Pick the chat where you will work on this task.
- Prepare the meeting notes. For the exercise, download the practice file below: it deliberately leaves questions without owners and deadlines.
- Decide who the result is for. A summary for meeting participants and a brief for a manager can differ in level of detail.
The source files contain practice data. Replace it with your own once you have the process down.
Start with the result and context
Attach the file and explain what should come out: decisions, tasks and open questions. Name the audience and the format you want. You do not need a technology name or a complex prompt for this.
If you work with your own materials, attach a sample of a good summary. It shows the agent your formatting standard better than the request "make it professional."
Prepare a summary of the meeting from the attached notes. The audience is the team members. Split it into decisions, tasks and open questions. For each task, name the owner and the deadline only if the source states them. Mark missing data separately. Do not turn suggestions from participants into agreed decisions.
Refine the result in the same conversation
Read the first version and give one specific correction. For example: "Cut the decisions section to three points, keep the tasks as a table, move unanswered questions to the end." You do not need to restate the whole assignment.
When Octodus asks a clarifying question, answer it within the context of the task. If the notes have no deadline, you can add one yourself and ask Octodus to mark it as a clarification made after the meeting.
Example result
What a checkable summary looks like
- Decision: we release the first version of the page without a calculator.
- Task: Mia prepares a draft of the text by September 10. Ben checks the form by September 11.
- Open question: who approves the budget for photos? The notes define no owner or deadline.
The catch, and how to check
A plausible deadline or owner can look tidy without being something the team agreed. Check every decision against the source notes. If the data is missing, a useful result should say so directly.
Before you use the result
- Every decision was actually made at the meeting, not merely proposed.
- Names and deadlines match the source or your later clarification.
- Undefined questions stay visible.
- The summary can be understood without reading the whole conversation.
How to repeat this on your own task
Once the format works for you, save it as a template for future meetings. If the task comes up often, you can turn the rules into a skill: the next guide shows that process with a weekly report.
Try this scenario
Download the source, copy the prompt and send it to Octodus together with the file.