Prompt & Polish · Iteration Challenges
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Iteration Challenge 01

Your First
Vibe Code

⏱ Under 5 minutes
🎯 No setup required
💡 Do first. Reflect second.
You've managed change orders. You've chased approvals, tracked scope creep, and written the follow-up emails no one wants to send. In the next 5 minutes, you're going to build a tool for it — without writing a single line of code.
📍 One sentence of context

Vibe coding means describing what you want to build in plain language — and letting AI write the code. Your job is clarity of intent. The AI's job is execution. This exercise is your first proof of that.

Don't overthink it. Just follow the steps.

1
Copy this prompt. Paste it into Claude. Hit enter.
Stage 1 of 3 · The doing · ~2 minutes
⏱ Target: under 2 minutes — don't edit, just paste and go
📋 Your Prompt — Ready to Copy
You are a practical operations designer who builds clear, no-nonsense tools for busy project managers. I manage projects where scope changes are common and change orders pile up. I need a fast, professional way to log and communicate them. Build me a simple change order tracker — a clean one-page tool where I can log: change description, requested by, date, impact on timeline (in days), impact on budget (in dollars), and status (Pending / Approved / Rejected). It should show a running total of timeline and budget impact at the bottom. Output as a single self-contained HTML file I can open in any browser. Keep it professional but not corporate. No unnecessary decoration. Should feel like something a PM would actually use.
● Role ● Context ● Task ● Format ● Guardrails

The colors above map to the five parts of a strong prompt. You just used all five without thinking about it.

  • 01 Open Claude in a new tab (claude.ai)
  • 02 Paste the prompt above into the message box
  • 03 Hit enter and watch what happens
  • 04 Come back here when you have output
2
Now look at what just happened.
Stage 2 of 3 · The reflection · ~2 minutes

You described a problem. AI built a working tool. No ticket raised. No sprint planned. No developer briefed. Let that land for a second.

Now here's what's worth noticing: you already knew how to do the hard part. Click below to see why.

🔍 What PM skills just made that work?
▼

That prompt wasn't random. It was structured — and you could write it because you've been doing the same thing in a different context your whole PM career.

Your PM Skill Defining who a deliverable is for
→
In the Prompt "You are a practical operations designer building for busy PMs"
Your PM Skill Writing requirements with enough context to act on
→
In the Prompt Describing the problem, the user, and the specific fields needed
Your PM Skill Specifying the deliverable format up front
→
In the Prompt "A single self-contained HTML file I can open in any browser"
Your PM Skill Setting guardrails so the output stays in scope
→
In the Prompt "Professional but not corporate. No unnecessary decoration."

This is the pattern. Every prompt you'll ever write has these same ingredients — because every brief you've ever written did too. The tool changed. The thinking didn't.

3
The mental model you're taking with you
Stage 3 of 3 · The habit · 30 seconds

Every time you sit down to vibe code, return to this frame. It works for a change order tracker. It works for a stakeholder dashboard. It works for anything.

🔁 The Repeatable Mental Model
Before I prompt, I ask:
Who is this for?  ·  What problem does it solve?  ·  What does done look like?  ·  What format do I need?  ·  What should it avoid?

That's a PM brief. That's a prompt. They're the same thing.

Go Deeper →
The Art of the Prompt
Field Guide §03 — the full anatomy of a strong prompt with more examples
Go Deeper →
Your PM Edge
Field Guide §04 — all five PM skills that transfer, with honest caveats

What's next

Exercise 01 — Scope It Like a Brief: take a vague idea and turn it into a prompt-ready specification using the same instincts you use on a project charter.