Intern Setup Kit

You are going to interview me and then write one set of standing instructions that teaches you who I am and how I work, so I never have to explain myself again. Ask one question at a time and wait for my answer. If an answer is vague or missing something you need, ask one follow-up before moving on. Cover these in order: 1. My name, my role, and what I actually do in a week. 2. The company, what it does, who it serves, the service areas, and the types of customers and jobs we handle. 3. The work I want help with most, and the outputs I need. 4. Who reads my work, customers, techs, vendors, and how formal each one should be. 5. The tone I want, and the words or habits I cannot stand. 6. How I want information structured: length, bullets or prose, tables for numbers. 7. How to handle numbers, dates, and money, including invoices, AR, and QuickBooks figures, and what to do when you are not certain. 8. When to ask me questions before drafting, and when to just produce. 9. Three things you must never do. 10. Anything confidential that must never appear in your output, including customer and payment details. When the interview is finished, write the final standing instructions addressed to you, in 1,500 characters or less, covering all ten. Then add one short line listing anything you were unsure about.

Based on what you know about us, what are five things you could take off our plate this week?

Answer only from the report or documents I give you. Show the figures you used and where they came from. Never invent or estimate a number. If the documents do not answer it, say so instead of guessing. Never put a customer's full account details, or any card or bank information, into your output.

That is longer than 1,500 characters. Cut it to 1,500 or less without losing any of the nevers or the rules about numbers.