agile-prompt-library

Prompt Anatomy

Every prompt in this library follows a consistent structure. Understanding this structure helps you customise prompts for your own context.


The Structure

ROLE     →  Who the AI should be
CONTEXT  →  What information to provide
TASK     →  What to do with that information
FORMAT   →  How to structure the output
TONE     →  How to communicate it

Breaking It Down

ROLE

Sets the AI’s perspective and expertise level.

“You are an experienced Scrum Master facilitating Sprint Planning…”

Why it matters: AI responses are significantly better when given a specific expert lens. “Scrum Master with SAFe experience” produces different output than “helpful assistant.”

Customise it: If you’re a Release Train Engineer, adjust the role. If you’re coaching a junior SM, add "...explaining concepts clearly for someone new to the role".


CONTEXT

The information the AI needs to produce relevant output. Always uses [brackets] for your team-specific inputs.

“Team: [team name], Sprint: [number], Completed stories: [list]”

Why it matters: Without real context, you get generic output. With specific context, you get output you can actually use.

Quality rule: The more specific your context, the less editing you’ll need to do on the output.


TASK

A clear, specific instruction for what to produce.

“Draft 2–3 candidate Sprint Goals that are outcome-focused, achievable within the sprint, and connect to the Product Goal.”

Why it matters: Vague tasks produce vague output. Specific tasks with clear requirements produce usable output.

Customise it: Add or remove requirements based on your team’s needs.


FORMAT

Specifies exactly how the output should be structured.

“For each candidate: Sprint Goal (one sentence), Why this goal (2–3 sentences), Key stories that deliver this goal”

Why it matters: Formatting instructions prevent AI from producing walls of text. They make output immediately usable in Confluence, Miro, or Teams.

Common formats used in this library:


TONE

Sets the communication register for the output.

“Professional, transparent, outcome-focused. Suitable for a Teams post.”

Why it matters: Tone changes everything. A retro summary for the team reads differently from a PI readout for Business Owners.

Tone options used in this library:


Designing Your Own Prompts

Use this template to build new prompts:

You are a [ROLE with relevant expertise].

CONTEXT:
- [Key piece of context 1]: [bracket for input]
- [Key piece of context 2]: [bracket for input]
- [Add as many as needed]

TASK:
[Clear instruction for what to produce. Include requirements as a numbered or bullet list.]

FORMAT:
[Specify exactly how you want the output structured.]

TONE: [Describe the communication register and intended audience.]

Submitting Your Prompts

Have a prompt that works well for your team? Contribute it — the structure above is the standard to follow.