Module 2 · AI Productivity Fundamentals
Using Claude
Use Claude, Anthropic's AI assistant, on a real document: summarise it, question it, check what it tells you, rewrite text for a different reader, and set up a project so it always knows your context.
About 30 minutes
What Claude is good at
Claude is an AI assistant made by Anthropic. You use it at claude.ai in a browser, or in the Claude apps for computer and phone. Sign up with your email or a Google account; there's a free plan, and paid plans give more use and features.
People use Claude for all kinds of things, but three everyday jobs stand out:
- Reading for you: summarising a long document, finding what matters in it, and answering questions about it.
- Rewriting: turning rough or technical text into something clear for a particular reader.
- Working with context: keeping your business's background, files and preferences in a project, so every new chat starts informed.
This module practises all three on realistic material. Features and button names change over time; if something on your screen looks slightly different, look for the nearest match.
Read a document with Claude
Below is part of a real-style supply agreement between a restaurant and a farm. You're the restaurant manager. You need to know what you've agreed to, without reading every line twice.
Output
SUPPLY AGREEMENT
This agreement is between Mama Put Kitchens Ltd ("the Buyer") of 14 Allen
Avenue, Ikeja, and Greenfield Farms ("the Supplier") of Km 12, Lagos-Ibadan
Expressway. It starts on 1 March 2026.
1. Deliveries. The Supplier will deliver fresh vegetables every Tuesday and
Friday, no later than 9:00am, to the Buyer's kitchen. The Buyer may reject any
produce that is damaged or below the agreed quality when it is delivered.
Rejected produce will not be invoiced.
2. Prices. Prices in Schedule A are fixed for six months from the start date.
After that, the Supplier may change prices once every six months, by no more
than 10% each time, with 21 days' written notice.
3. Payment. The Supplier will invoice weekly. The Buyer will pay each invoice
within 14 days. Late payments will attract interest of 2% of the unpaid amount
for each month or part of a month they are late.
4. Minimum order. The Buyer will order at least ₦200,000 of produce each month.
If it orders less, it will pay the difference at the end of the month.
5. Ending the agreement. Either party may end this agreement with 30 days'
written notice. The Supplier may end it immediately if any invoice is unpaid
for more than 60 days.Copy it, open a new chat in Claude, paste it in, and try prompts like these. (For a PDF or Word file, use the attach button, a paperclip or +, instead of pasting.)
Output
I'm the manager of Mama Put Kitchens. Summarise this agreement in 5 bullet
points: what we must do, what the supplier must do, and anything that could
cost us money.Output
List every deadline and amount of money in this agreement, with the clause
number each comes from, in a table.Output
What are the risks for us in this agreement? What would you ask the supplier
to change before we sign?A good summary looks something like this:
Output
- Greenfield delivers vegetables every Tuesday and Friday by 9am; you can
reject damaged produce on delivery and won't be charged for it (cl. 1).
- Prices are fixed until 31 August 2026; after that they can rise by up to
10% every six months, with 21 days' notice (cl. 2).
- You must pay each weekly invoice within 14 days, or pay 2% interest per
month late (cl. 3).
- You must buy at least ₦200,000 a month, or pay the shortfall (cl. 4).
- Either side can end it with 30 days' notice; the supplier can end it at
once if an invoice is over 60 days unpaid (cl. 5).Then check it. Claude is a strong reader, but it can misread, round, or slip a detail in from what's "usual" rather than what's written. For anything you'll act on, especially numbers, dates and obligations, find the clause and read it yourself. Asking for clause numbers, as the second prompt does, makes this quick.
Rewrite for a different reader
Claude is very good at keeping the meaning while changing the reader. Tell it who will read it and what they need to do.
Output
Rewrite this for our customers, not engineers. Friendly, under 70 words,
say sorry, and tell them what to do if they were charged twice:
"Due to an upstream API outage our payment gateway returned 502 errors
between 14:00 and 15:30 WAT. Some transactions were captured twice. Duplicate
captures will be auto-reversed within 3-5 business days."Output
Between 2pm and 3:30pm today, a problem with our payment provider meant some
customers were charged twice. We're sorry about this. Any double charge will
be refunded to your account automatically within 3 to 5 working days, so
there's nothing you need to do. If it hasn't arrived by then, reply to this
message and we'll sort it out.Other useful rewrites: "half the length, same points", "more formal, for a bank", or "don't rewrite it, tell me what's unclear", which is the best way to improve your own writing rather than handing it over.
Keep your context in a project
If you use Claude for the same kind of work again and again (your business, a course, a job search), create a project. A project groups related chats and lets you add:
- Knowledge files it can always refer to: your price list, menu, policies, a style guide.
- Instructions it follows in every chat in that project.
Good project instructions are short and specific:
Output
You're helping me run Ada's Kitchen, a catering business in Lekki, Lagos.
- Write in British English, warm and simple. No corporate words.
- Prices and menu: use the attached price list only. Never invent a price.
- Customer messages: under 80 words unless I ask for more.
- If you're not sure of a fact about the business, ask me.Every new chat in that project starts already knowing all of this, so you stop repeating yourself.
Try it
Use Claude (or any AI assistant) on the supply agreement above, then check its answers against the text yourself before typing them here.
Practice
How many days' written notice must either side give to end the agreement normally?
Practice
An invoice for ₦500,000 is paid one month late. How much interest does the restaurant owe, in naira?
Practice
In July the restaurant only orders ₦170,000 of produce. How much extra does it pay at the end of the month?
Task
6 minWrite project instructions for Claude for a business, job or course of your own (or an invented one). Include who you are, how you want it to write, at least one rule it must never break, and what to do when it isn't sure. Use one line per instruction.
Your work is checked for
- Says who you are or what the project is about
- At least four instructions, one per line
- Says how to write (tone, language, length…)
- Includes a rule it must never break (never, don't, do not, only…)
- Says what to do when it isn't sure (ask me, check…)
To finish, set up a real project in Claude with instructions like yours, add one file to it, and start a chat inside it to see the difference.
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