Tight Five Prompt Deck

What do you know that the world needs?

Five questions. Honest answers. A deck that gets sharper every time you return.

1Principles

Most ideas die in your head.

What would you build if you could only hold five things?

Where ideas die	Why
In your head	No compression — too complex to share
In a document	No structure — prose hides weak thinking
In a meeting	No order — everyone talks past each other
After the consultant leaves	No return — the analysis expires on delivery

Try it — five questions, your answers

Picture

A person staring at a blank page. Behind them, a wall covered in notes, half-finished plans, bookmarks. None connected. The gap between knowing and doing, visible.

2Performance

Five questions extract what you know.

What do you care about, know for sure, have to work with, see that others miss, and how would you measure it?

Question	What it finds
What do you care about?	Purpose — the thing that keeps coming back
What do you know for sure?	Principles — the hard lessons
What have you got to work with?	Platform — skills, contacts, tools
What do you see others miss?	Perspective — your edge
How would you know it's working?	Performance — the scoreboard

Depth: The Tight Five

Picture

Five cards laid out on a dark table. Each one holds a single bold headline. Together they tell a story the author didn't know they had.

3Platform

Your words. Not a consultant's.

Who fills the cells — and who keeps them?

Diagnostic report	Living deck
Analyst fills it	Founder fills it
Delivered once	Returns weekly
Expires on delivery	Open loops keep it active
PDF on a shelf	Gets sharper every return

Depth: How mantras graduate to systems

Picture

Split screen. Left: a polished report with someone else's logo. Right: a hand-written deck in the founder's own language. The right one is messier. The right one gets opened again.

4Process

Disagreement gets coordinates.

When five people sort the same five cards differently, what does the gap reveal?

Presentation	Card sort
Audience listens	Participants choose
Order is the presenter's	Order is the room's
Disagreement invisible	Disagreement has coordinates
Consensus assumed	Consensus earned

Depth: The alignment exercise

Picture

Five cards on a table. Three people reaching to rearrange them. Each has a different order. The argument about sequence IS the alignment session.

5Players

The deck compounds. The idea emerges.

What happens when you return to your five answers after a week of living with them?

Week 1	Week 12
Raw answers	Compressed truths
Gaps you can't name	Gaps that became your strategy
A deck	An instrument
An idea	A business

Depth: The product behind this page

Picture

The same five cards from slide 1, but now the headlines are sharper. Some cells have changed. The gaps between cards glow — that's where the next insight lives.

1 / 5

80 cents of your dollar is spent on the headline. The PromptDeck IS the headline.

Pitch and Prompt

Each slide has two layers. The pitch (headline + table) sells. The prompt (open-loop question) hooks. The Zeigarnik effect is the engine — the question stays active in working memory until the reader resolves it by clicking the depth link.

Layer	What it does	Bias engine
Pitch (headline + table)	Confirms what they already feel	Confirmation, loss aversion
Prompt (question)	Opens a loop they can't close	Zeigarnik, hyperbolic discounting
Depth (SlideDepth link)	Offers resolution through co-creation	IKEA effect, reciprocity

The prompt prop on Slide renders the open-loop question beneath the headline. Use it:

<Slide
  number={1}
  headline="Strong claim that compels belief."
  prompt="The open-loop question they can't ignore?"
>

We all need a prompt in the right direction — human and phygital agent alike. A mantra prompts you. A system prompt prompts the machine. The PromptDeck prompts the room. Same mechanism. Different scale.

How to Use

Setup

The file must be .mdx. Add the import at the top of your page:

import { PromptDeck, Slide, SlideDepth } from "@site/src/components/prompt-deck";

Slide Shape

Every slide follows this exact shape:

<Slide
  number={1} // 1-5, maps to 5P position
  headline="Strong rhetoric that compels belief." // The argument in one sentence
  picture="Positive vision of the greater good" // Vision description until image exists
>
  | Column A | Column B | Column C | | -------- | -------- | -------- | | Row 1 | | | | Row 2 | | |
  <SlideDepth href="#depth">Depth: Position</SlideDepth>
</Slide>

Headlines

The headline is the most important element. 80 cents in the dollar. It must be strong rhetoric that people (and agents) feel compelled to believe in.

Good	Bad	Why
"Fonterra owns the data, farmers don't."	"Player Analysis"	Strong claim earns attention
"Zero friction tracing scales judgment."	"Performance Metrics"	Vision of the greater good
"Discipline earns the compounding edge."	"Platform Overview"	Positive rhetoric that inspires action

Pictures

The picture is not a placeholder illustration. You must paint positive pictures backed by strong rhetoric that people (and agents) feel compelled to believe in. Sell reasons to believe that good things can be earned through disciplined dedication to a greater good. Go positive, go first, be constant in doing it.

Tables

The table IS the argument. If it doesn't fit a table, rethink the argument.

Rule	Why
Max 5 rows	Forces compression — cut until only the essential remains
2-4 columns	More than 4 = too much for a slide
No prose in slides	Prose hides weak thinking — tables expose it
No bullet lists	Bullets are unstructured — tables force dimensions
One sentence per cell	If it takes more, you don't understand it yet

Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Headline is a label ("Principles")	Make it a claim ("No shared nomenclature exists")
Table has 8+ rows	Cut to 5. Can't cut? Split into two slides
Prose between table and SlideDepth	Delete it. The table said everything
Bullet list instead of table	Find the dimensions, make columns
title/mantra/questions props on PromptDeck	Remove — the page H1, opening line, and Questions section handle these
Missing SlideDepth	Every slide links to its depth page

Page Shape

The PromptDeck sits inside a page that follows content-flow:

# Page Title                          ← H1
Opening question                      ← One line
<PromptDeck>                          ← The star — above the fold
  <Slide ... /> × 5
</PromptDeck>
VVFL sentence                         ← One line connecting the loop
## Context                            ← Internal links
## Links                              ← External references
## Questions                          ← Socratic open loops

Implementations

Industries

Industry	Reference
Agriculture	Start here — reference implementation
Advertising	Complete

PRDs

PRD	Status
Prompt Deck	Meta — the product describes itself
Identity & Access	Active
Agent Platform	Active
Sales CRM & RFP	Active
Time + Mind	Active
Sales Dev	Active
Pipeline Nowcast	Backlog
Business Idea Generator	Backlog
Workflow & Process Mgmt	Backlog
Sui Real Estate	Backlog
Squeally Ann	Backlog

Context

• The Tight Five — The schema this instrument implements
• Headlines — 80 cents in the dollar
• Aligned Priorities — The card sort exercise
• Mantra Cascade — How phrases graduate to systems
• Create Your Deck — The interactive instrument
• Prompt Deck PRD — The product behind this page

Questions

If the table IS the argument, what arguments are you still making with prose?

• When you write a headline as a label instead of a claim, what are you afraid to commit to?
• Which implementation in the list above best demonstrates the instrument — and what makes it work where others don't?
• If the headline is 80 cents in the dollar, how much time do you spend on headlines vs table content?
• What's the difference between a slide that informs and one that creates urgency to click the depth link?