The short answer: The 3Cs are the skills of an effective prompter: creative thinking, critical thinking, and clear communication. Using them gets you better outputs faster, and helps control the token spend that comes with learning AI.
Key takeaways
- Companies spend heavily on tokens while teams learn AI. Better prompting is one way to bring that down.
- Creative: do not limit yourself to how you did the task before AI.
- Critical: AI is not thinking, you are. You are the loop, so check the work.
- Clear: tell the tool exactly what outcome you want and the context it needs.
Why this matters
When a company adopts AI, there is a period where it will spend a lot on tokens as the teams learn how to use it. There are several techniques to help reduce that cost and get useful outputs from your AI tools. One of them is the 3Cs.
The 3Cs are the skills you need to be an effective prompter: creative thinking, critical thinking, and clear communication.
1. Be creative
Do not limit yourself to the old process. Think outside the box and come up with ways of approaching your task that are not limited to how you did things before using AI.
2. Use critical thinking
AI is not magic, and it is not thinking; you are the one doing the thinking. It just executes based on a prompt and guardrails. You still need to check the work and make sure it really addresses the task you assigned. There is no human in the loop; you are the loop. Do not skip your part, which is to be the brains of the operation.
3. Use clear communication
You need to tell the AI tool exactly what you want. Do not talk to it like a person. People are great at figuring out assumptions and generalities; AI is just OK at that. Do not just tell it to analyze a spreadsheet. Give it clear and precise directions about the outcome you want and the context of the analysis you need.
| Vague | Clear | |
|---|---|---|
| Prompt | "Analyze this spreadsheet." | "This sheet is [what it contains] for [period]. I need [the outcome], so I can decide [the decision]. Flag anything that looks wrong before you summarize." |
The example is illustrative; fill the brackets with your own details.
Putting the three together
When you use these three skills that we all learned in elementary school, you will find that your outputs are better and that you get to the point of what you want much faster.
A quick check before you send a prompt: Have I thought beyond the old way of doing this? Do I know how I will verify the answer? Could someone with no context follow my instructions? For how analyzing your own prompting habits can help, see Improve Your Leadership Style with AI.
Frequently asked questions
What are the 3Cs of AI?
Creative thinking, critical thinking, and clear communication. They are the skills you need to be an effective prompter.
Why does prompting skill matter for cost?
When a company adopts AI, there is a period where it spends a lot on tokens as teams learn to use the tools. Clear, well-aimed prompts help you reach a useful output sooner, which reduces wasted tokens.
Should I talk to AI like a person?
No. People are great at filling in assumptions and generalities; AI is only OK at that. Tell it precisely what you want and the context of the work.