Summarise Without Losing the Point
Compress a long document to a tenth of its length while keeping what matters, then verify nothing important was dropped. Tests whether you can direct compression rather than just requesting it.
Why this one
"Summarise this" produces an average of the document — even coverage, no judgement. A useful summary is lopsided, because it knows what the reader needs, and that means telling the model who is reading and why.
Steps
Decide who the summary is for
A summary for someone deciding whether to fund something differs completely from one for someone implementing it. Write the reader and the decision down before you prompt.
Summarise against that purpose
Include the purpose in the prompt and require an explicit note of what was dropped — the omissions list is what makes the summary auditable.
PromptSummarise the document below for a reader who must decide [the specific decision]. Include only what bears on that decision. At the end, add "OMITTED:" and list the significant content you deliberately left out and why it does not affect the decision. Maximum [n] words. DOCUMENT: [paste]
Audit the omissions
Read the omissions list. If anything there would actually change the decision, the summary is wrong. This step is the whole reason for requiring the list.
Test it on the original
Take three questions the reader would ask and check whether the summary answers them correctly. Then check the same answers against the original document, because a fluent summary can be confidently wrong.
You should end up with
A purpose-built summary with an audited omissions list.
Done when
- The summary is explicitly built around one decision
- Nothing in the omissions list would change that decision
- Three reader questions are answered correctly against the original
If you want to go further
- Produce a second summary for a different reader and compare what each kept