Participant Materials

Three Approaches Decision Matrix

When to Use	ADRs + Config	Structured Files	Tool-Assisted
Team Size	Any size	5–15 people	Committed to one tool
Task Type	Simple–Medium	Complex, repeated	IDE-integrated work
Maturity	Proven (Tier 1)	Experimental (Tier 3)	Varies (Tier 2–3)
Maintenance	Low	Medium	Low (tool manages)
Examples	.github/copilot-instructions.md	Priority Builder (325 lines)	Windsurf workflows
Time to Setup	15 minutes	1–2 hours	30 minutes
Best For	Most teams	Learning, complex tasks	Platform-specific teams

Foundational Patterns Reference

Pattern	Template	When to Use
Persona	"You are an expert [role] with [expertise]..."	Need specialized knowledge
Few-shot	"Example 1: Input → Output"	Want consistent format
Template	"Respond in this format: [structure]"	Need structured output
Chain-of-Thought	"Show your reasoning step by step"	Complex problem solving

Advanced Patterns Reference

Pattern	Structure	When to Use
ReAct	Think → Act → Observe → Think...	Multi-step tasks with validation
Tree of Thoughts	Generate options → Evaluate → Choose	Decision points with tradeoffs
Spec-Kit	knowledge-base → specification → implementation	Complex, repeated tasks

Demo Personas for Safe Practice

Use these fictional profiles during exercises to avoid putting real client or personal information into AI tools.

Jobs for Interview Prep Exercises

Spec-Kit Workflow Templates

knowledge-base.md

# Interview Knowledge Base

## STAR Method Framework
- **Situation**: Context and background
- **Task**: What needed to be accomplished
- **Action**: Steps you took (focus on YOUR actions)
- **Result**: Outcome and impact (quantified when possible)

## Common Senior Manager Questions
1. "Tell me about a time you led a complex project"
2. "How do you handle competing stakeholder priorities?"
3. "Describe your approach to building teams"
4. "Give an example of driving strategic change"
5. "What's your experience with digital/AI transformation?"

## Positioning Strategy Options
- **Technical Expert**: Emphasize deep functional skills
- **Strategic Leader**: Focus on business impact and vision
- **Balanced Bridge**: Demonstrate both technical depth and business acumen

specification.md

# Interview Specification

## Target Role Details
- **Position**: [Role title]
- **Company**: [Company name and industry]
- **Key Requirements**: [Must-have qualifications]
- **Team/Scope**: [Management responsibilities]

## Candidate Background
- **Current Role**: [Your position and experience]
- **Key Projects**: [2-3 most relevant projects]
- **Notable Achievements**: [Quantified results]
- **Skills Gap Analysis**: [What you're missing vs what you have]

## Success Criteria
- [What good positioning looks like for this role]
- [Key messages to convey]
- [Questions to ask that show strategic thinking]

implementation-plan.md

# Interview Implementation Plan

## Phase 1: ReAct Analysis
**THINK**: What positioning strategy best fits this role + my background?
**ACT**: Map my experience to role requirements systematically
**OBSERVE**: What gaps/strengths emerge from this analysis?
**THINK**: How can I position gaps as learning opportunities?
**ACT**: Develop core narrative connecting past experience → role requirements

## Phase 2: Tree of Thoughts Strategy
**Option A**: [First positioning approach]
- Pros: [What works well]
- Cons: [Potential weaknesses]
- Risk Level: [High/Medium/Low]

**Option B**: [Second positioning approach]
- Pros: [What works well]
- Cons: [Potential weaknesses]
- Risk Level: [High/Medium/Low]

**Option C**: [Third positioning approach]
- Pros: [What works well]
- Cons: [Potential weaknesses]
- Risk Level: [High/Medium/Low]

**Selected Strategy**: [Chosen approach with rationale]

## Phase 3: Materials Generation
- One-page positioning summary
- 5 prepared STAR examples
- Strategic questions to ask
- Practice plan for delivery

Research References

• White et al. (2023) — "A Prompt Pattern Catalog to Enhance Prompt Engineering with ChatGPT" · arXiv 2302.11382
  Foundational patterns: Persona, Few-shot, Template, Chain-of-Thought
• Yao et al. (2022) — "ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Models" · arXiv 2210.03629
  Think → Act → Observe pattern for complex reasoning
• Yao et al. (2023) — "Tree of Thoughts: Deliberate Problem Solving with Large Language Models" · arXiv 2305.10601
  Generate → Evaluate → Choose pattern for decision making

Workshop Completion Checklist

Session 1 Objectives

• I can explain when to use ADRs vs Structured Files vs Tool-Assisted approaches
• I can identify Persona, Few-shot, Template, Chain-of-Thought patterns in prompts
• I generated realistic priorities using the Priority Builder methodology
• I understand the difference between systematic and ad-hoc prompting

Session 2 Objectives

• I can execute ReAct analysis (Think → Act → Observe) for complex problems
• I can use Tree of Thoughts to evaluate multiple strategies
• I built complete interview preparation materials using the 4-file workflow
• I see how the same patterns scale across business and technical domains

Action Items

• Apply ReAct pattern to one complex work decision this week
• Create a spec-kit workflow for a task I do repeatedly
• Evaluate new AI tools using the Tier Framework
• Share the Three Approaches framework with my team