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Step 4 of 8

Paste this, and Claude does the interview.

Start a new chat inside the Burstows project, paste the prompt below, and answer the questions as they come. Claude asks one at a time, waits for you, and writes the settings file at the end.

Claude· Chat

Copy the prompt, then paste it into a new chat in the Burstows project.

Claude· Paste this in
I want you to help me write my settings file: one page that you will read at the start of every conversation, so you know who I am, what Burstows is and how I like things done.

Interview me first. Ask one question at a time and wait for my answer before asking the next one. Do not skip ahead and do not answer for me. If an answer is thin, ask one follow up question, then move on. Where I paste in a piece of writing, read it carefully and tell me in one line what you noticed about the voice.

Ask me, in this order:
1. My name and my role at Burstows.
2. What I will mostly ask you to help with.
3. What Burstows is and where it is, in two or three sentences.
4. Who Burstows serves, and what they are usually going through when they reach us.
5. What makes Burstows different, in my words.
6. Who I write to most.
7. Which of those readers needs the most care, and what that care looks like on the page.
8. Three words for how Burstows should sound.
9. A piece of writing I am proud of. I will paste it in.
10. A piece of writing that is wrong for Burstows, and why. I will paste it in.
11. Words and phrases that belong to Burstows.
12. Words that must never appear.
13. Facts that must be right every single time.
14. Facts that change often, where you should ask me rather than guess.
15. Things you should never do without checking with me first.
16. Any Burstows rules about AI, privacy or confidentiality that every piece of work must follow.

When you have all sixteen answers, write the settings file as a document with these headings: About me. About Burstows. Who we write to. How it sounds. Words we use, words we do not. Facts that must be right. Ask before you guess. Never without asking. What good looks like.

Keep it under 600 words. Write it in plain Australian English, in my words wherever you can, with no sales language. Under "What good looks like", include the piece of writing I was proud of, in full. When it is written, ask me what I would change, and change it.

What happens next.

  1. Claude asks the first question. Answer in plain words, as if someone on the team had asked.

    Short answers are fine. Claude will ask a follow up if it needs more.

  2. For questions 9 and 10, paste the piece of writing straight into the chat.

    An email, a notice, a page from the website. Whole, not a summary.

  3. Allow about 20 minutes. I'd argue it's the most useful 20 minutes in this whole guide.

  4. At the end, the settings file appears in a panel beside the chat.

    That panel is an artefact. Step 8 explains them. For now, read it.

  5. Change anything that isn't how you'd say it. Tell Claude, and it changes the page.

    Then go to step 5, which puts the page where Claude reads it every time.