"Not Me" Podcast Episode #1: Effective Prompt Engineering: Techniques and Best Practices

Hi, it’s Vlad. A quick note before we start. All my earlier newsletters were text‑only.This is our very first audio episode, so you’re part of a small milestone. Also, you won’t hear me talking live this time. Two friendly AI voices that will handle the lesson and show you how to write great prompts. Think of it as a radio play for tech lovers.If you read my earlier pieces: or You already know I like to share every secret. This time, I aim to demonstrate, step by step, how I learned to provide clear prompts to an AI, enabling it to stop guessing and begin performing actual work. In this task, I will break down the recent GPT‑4.1 Prompting Guide and Google’s “Prompt Engineering.” So my AI is with me. Together, we teach you how to write prompts that make big language models work smarter, not harder.Vlad's Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.What the AIs cover in the show* Why prompts matterThey compare a vague question to a laser‑focused one and show how the model’s answer changes.* Highlights from the “GPT‑4.1 Prompting Guide”* Closer instruction‑following: tell GPT‑4.1 exactly what you want—no hedging.* Agentic workflows: learn to add “persist,” “use tools,” and “think step‑by‑step” so the model plans before it acts.* Long context tips: where to place your main instructions when you feed the model a giant document.* Chain‑of‑Thought tricks: how to ask GPT‑4.1 to reveal its reasoning, one step at a time.* Insights from Google’s “Prompt Engineering”* Quick rundown of zero‑shot, one‑shot, and few‑shot methods.* How temperature and top‑p settings change the “creativity dial.”* ReAct prompting: mix reasoning with tool calls for complex tasks.* Best way to force clean JSON output if you need structured data.* A peek at automatic prompt engineering—yes, even prompts can be written by AI.* Live prompt‑doctor sessionCheeky AI writes a sloppy prompt → Calm AI fixes it line by line → They compare results.* Key takeawayGood prompting = clear instructions + relevant examples + step‑by‑step thinking. The better you ask, the stronger the answer.How to listen* Click the audio player above.* Grab a coffee—the episode is about 30 minutes.* Keep a note app available; you’ll want to steal a few prompt patterns.After you listenIf you like what you hear, I will prepare more. For example, agent AI workflows—letting the model plan, decide, and finish complex jobs while you supervise. Or dive into sales and marketing that you might even like better. Post-Credit SceneStill here? Love it. Tell me what you think? This is wild, right? I have a strong feeling that this is the future of education here. You can upload whatever data you want to study, create a podcast, and even participate in it. Anyway. Below are bite‑sized resources to help you level up after today’s audio. Mini‑Practice Drill* Pick a short article (300 words).* Write a zero‑shot prompt: “Summarize in three bullet points for a 12‑year‑old.”* Add one example summary → rerun (few‑shot).* Finally, add: “Show reasoning step‑by‑step.” Notice the difference.Books if You Want a Deeper Rabbit Hole* “Rebooting AI” – Marcus & Davis* “Prediction Machines” – Agrawal, Gans, GoldfarbSee you in the next editions—until then, keep experimenting and document every prompt tweak. Your future self (and your AI assistant) will thank you.Thank you for reading and listening this time.Vlad This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.vladsnewsletter.com/subscribe