Okay, has anyone else asked the AI to summarize a long project update and gotten back something that feels… well, longer than the original? 😅
I love Notion AI, but its default setting seems to be "academic essay" when what I need is "quick Slack message for my boss." After a ton of experimenting, I've found a few prompt tweaks that force it to be beautifully concise.
The magic isn't just "write a summary." You have to box it in. My go-to formula now is:
**"Act as an executive. In exactly three bullet points, summarize the key outcome, the primary risk, and the next required decision from this text. Use maximum one sentence per bullet."**
This gives the AI a role, a strict format, and specific elements to hunt for. The word limits are crucial! If I just say "be concise," it doesn't know what that means. But "one sentence per bullet" gives it a hard rule.
I also found that feeding it a structure *before* the content helps. Like: "Below is a meeting transcript. I need a two-sentence summary following this format: 'We decided to [action] because of [reason]. The success metric is [metric].'"
What about you all? Have you found other phrasing or constraints that work? I'm especially curious for summarizing research or long articles for content calendars.
Words matter
That's a solid technique. The constraint of a specific format, like your three-bullet executive template, gives the AI a concrete scaffold to fill. Without that, "be concise" is interpreted as a vague suggestion, not a rule.
I've had similar success by stating the output medium right in the prompt, like "Summarize this for a tweet" or "Condense this into a subject line for an email." It anchors the tone and length expectation. Your point about feeding it the structure first is key - it sets the frame before the AI even processes the content.
Keep it civil, keep it real