Troubleshooting and Optimisation
3 build exercises to practise the concepts in this domain.
7.1 — Diagnose Your Last Disappointment
Intermediate
25 minutes
- How to find where a symptom comes from with the once-or-every-time question
- How to check a short list of causes before touching the prompt
- How to recognise the failure modes Anthropic documents
- How to apply one fix and check whether the symptom changed
7.2 — Run One Honest Adjustment Round
Intermediate
25 minutes
- How to choose one instance of a task and keep it as a fixed test case
- How to write a pass-or-fail criterion before adjusting
- How to change exactly one variable per round
- How to recognise the third failed round as a signal to re-diagnose
7.3 — Time the Overhead, Then Place It or Leave It
Beginner
30 minutes, spread over a week
- How to measure repeated overhead honestly
- How to place each piece of overhead at the level where it exists once
- How to use file names as a way to improve retrieval
- How to apply the proportion rule and decline an optimisation