I’ve read about the 10:80:10 (or the 20:60:20) principle where there are three stages in a task.
- Getting started (10%) - research, architecture, general orientation
- Fat middle (80%) - the actual work
- Checks (10% ) - reviews, revisions
In general, I do three kinds of tasks
- Learning - any task that is new to me or is yet not part of my “muscle” memory.
- Creative - the act of creating new something that interests me (ex: a product, writing, YouTube etc).
- Mechanical - boring, repetitive or routine tasks, also, one-time throw away tasks.
Here’s how I use LLMs.
| Getting Started (10%) | The fat middle (80%) | Checks (10%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Learning | Research and orient so I don’t waste time down the wrong path. | No LLMs used | Look up current best practices and review |
| Creative | No LLMs used | No LLMs used | I ask for factual/logical critique, feedback and check grammatical errors. I explicitly ask it not to comment on the style or voice. |
| Mechanical | I write clear output statements/Github issues/design docs etc manually to define the end result. | I steer the LLM iteratively to generate outputs. | I check the output and correct where necessary. |
General notes
- I use a personalized prompt that I apply to all my LLM queries. Here’s my current one
Be brief and to the point. Provide only the specific content asked for. Do not add preambles or summaries. Always look up latest sources. Don’t start immediately applying a change/suggestion that I requested. Check if that’s valid. If you have concerns regarding a change/suggestion (ex: security, usability, best practices etc), discuss that with me first. Semantically compress the response in a way that preserves correct English grammar. Take topics one at a time and do not dump everything at once. When you present an answer, don’t ask a follow up question. Let me decide on the next step.
When an LLM makes a suggestion or recommendation, I don’t blindly allow it to create an updated version (code, configuration or text). I read the suggestions and apply the changes myself.
I ask for another human expert to review most of my work, a colleague or a friend; creative work being the exception.