01
Gather the real boundaries
Collect the problem, system context, known limits, assumptions, and open questions before discussing designs.
Made for Engineers
Set Practical Constraints Before Designing the Solution
Also useful for: people in Software Engineering
25 min
Intermediate
Decisions
Get Something Done
Need to Compare Options
Define the boundaries a proposed solution must respect before spending time comparing designs.
We'll use them to write your prompt.
Completed ✓
Make Your Play
Give us the situation. We’ll build the prompt.
Expose hard limits, flexible targets, conflicts, and missing evidence before design work locks in costly assumptions.
Your answers save as you type.
What you'll do
This is the plan inside your prompt. Add your details first. Then follow these steps with ChatGPT or Claude.
02
Test the constraints
Use the AI prompt to classify each item, expose conflicts, and isolate questions that could change design viability.
03
Publish the comparison gate
Convert the reviewed constraints into checks that every candidate design must pass or be scored against.
Make Your Play
Set Practical Constraints Before Designing the Solution
Tell us what the prompt needs to know
Start with the questions below. Each answer personalizes the playbook and builds the prompt you’ll use at the end.
Your situation
Describe the problem, the desired outcome, and what must improve without proposing a full design.
0/10000
Summarize the current system, major dependencies, users, traffic pattern, and known failure points.
0/10000
List known limits for performance, scale, security, compatibility, delivery time, maintenance, and cost. Include numbers and sources where available.
0/10000
List uncertain facts, inherited beliefs, missing measurements, and assumptions currently shaping the work.
0/10000
Describe any approach already being considered and the concerns that need testing.
0/10000
This playbook was updated. Review your inputs before copying.
What you'll do
Check a step when you finish it.
01
Gather the real boundaries
Collect the problem, system context, known limits, assumptions, and open questions before discussing designs.
02
Test the constraints
Use the AI prompt to classify each item, expose conflicts, and isolate questions that could change design viability.
03
Publish the comparison gate
Convert the reviewed constraints into checks that every candidate design must pass or be scored against.
Fill in the fields above to generate your prompt preview.
Assembled prompt
Beginner instructions
Start with rough facts. If a number isn’t known, write “unknown” instead of guessing. Include who requested each important limit and what would happen if it were missed.
Advanced instructions
Add measured baselines, traffic distributions, failure budgets, dependency versions, threat requirements, operating costs, and rollback limits. Challenge inherited constraints that lack a current source.
Use this when
You are about to compare technical designs, estimate a solution, review an architecture proposal, or start a change with unclear operating limits.
You'll need
- Problem and outcome
- System context
- Known constraints
- Unknowns and assumptions
- Candidate direction
You'll get
- Every relevant constraint area reviewed
- Each constraint classified as a hard limit, target, assumption, or unknown
- Important thresholds tied to an acceptance test
- Constraint conflicts made visible
- Decision-changing investigations ranked
- A reusable design comparison gate completed.
By the end of this playbook
You will have:
- Every relevant constraint area reviewed
- Each constraint classified as a hard limit, target, assumption, or unknown
- Important thresholds tied to an acceptance test
- Constraint conflicts made visible
- Decision-changing investigations ranked
- A reusable design comparison gate completed.
Examples
Progress 1 of 3