Prompting

Iteration

Improving an answer step by step with short follow-ups, steering the AI toward what you want instead of expecting the first reply to be perfect.

Steer in small steps A first draft becomes better and then ready through two short follow-ups. STEER IN SMALL STEPS First draft "shorter" Better "add the reason" Ready

Iteration is treating the first answer as a draft, not the finish. You read what came back, name the one or two things that are off, and steer the next version with a short follow-up. Most of the quality lives here, not in one perfect prompt.

Two habits make it work: change one thing at a time so you can see what helped, and start fresh when a chat has drifted too far to rescue. Pointing beats hoping.

Often confused with: Writing a longer prompt. Iteration is the back-and-forth after the first answer, not just front-loading more detail.

See it in a lesson: Iterating

Further reading

All terms