A good prompt is just a good spec

People talk about prompt tricks, but what actually works is old advice: write a clear spec. State the goal, the constraints, the inputs and what done looks like.

When I can't write the prompt, it usually means I don't understand the problem yet. The act of explaining it clearly is half the solution.

So I keep a few templates: bug report, feature request, code review. Same discipline I'd want from a teammate, just applied to a tool.