AI guides / 01
Work with dot
like a pro
Start useful tasks. Shape better results. Know when the work is done.
Useful work grows through
conversation and review.
By Nat
Getting oriented
You have dot.
Now what?
An agent can do a surprising amount of work. Learning to direct that work is a skill of its own.
You ask for help. Dot researches, makes a plan and returns something that looks finished. Then you read it closely. The important question is missing. The tone feels wrong. Or a task described as complete still needs you to do the last step.
This is where working well with dot begins. You give it a useful job, help it understand what matters, and judge the result. As the work develops, you can add a source, correct a misunderstanding or change the approach. You do not have to know every step before you start.
This guide shows how to do that in ordinary conversation. We will use a venue enquiry at a few key moments, from a rough production plan to an email you have reviewed and sent. The same habits apply to a research brief, a presentation or a document you need to use.
What you will learn
Start a task inside dot, steer a weak result towards something useful, and check that the requested work has actually happened.
Getting oriented
An agent you can
keep working with
Dot is OpenAI’s always-on agent in ChatGPT. It can research, prepare files and coordinate work across tools. You can keep talking to it as the work develops.
Open your dot conversation and type a request, or use the phone button to talk it through. A call can be useful when your thoughts are still rough. Put exact dates, names and important decisions in a message so you can check them easily.
Dot has its own computer and browser in the cloud. It can also use supported connected apps and, with access, your computer. The sources and tools available to it affect what it can do. If something is missing, ask what access or information would unblock the task.
Three contributions to useful work
You
Purpose, priorities,
judgment and decisions
Dot
Research, drafts,
files and follow-through
Sources & tools
The information and
access the job needs
01 / Start useful work
Give dot a job
it can advance
Begin with something you already need to do and can judge for yourself.
A larger goal often contains a good first task. Organizing a production might begin with finding a suitable space and contacting it. Preparing for a meeting might begin with a brief that identifies the decisions you need to make.
Tell dot where you are trying to get to. If you are unsure how to begin, let it suggest a manageable next task. Choose one that produces something useful: a comparison you can act on, a draft you can review or a message ready to send.
- Larger goal
- Organize a production
- First task
- Research a suitable venue
and prepare an enquiry - Finish here
- A reviewed enquiry
sent to the venue
For the example in this guide, the first task ends when the enquiry is sent. Booking the venue will require a reply and further decisions.
02 / Build the brief together
Share what changes
the answer
A brief gives dot enough context to make sensible choices. You can build it through conversation.
Start with what you know: the result you need, the facts that constrain it, and the material dot should use. Explain what is still undecided. A missing budget is something to ask about; it is not an invitation to invent one.
Details earn their place when they affect the work. A headcount changes venue suitability. The audience changes a document’s tone. A reference guide helps define quality. You can add the rest when it becomes relevant.
- When
- 12 June 2027 · 2–4 pm
Singapore time - Where
- Singapore
- People
- Around 40
- Needs
- Seating and basic lighting
These are sample event details. Use your own when trying the task. Notice that the request gives dot a result, relevant facts and a clear point for your review.
02 / Build the brief together
Let the conversation
improve the plan
Dot may need to distinguish the production time from the full hire period, including setup and pack-down. It may ask about a budget, a location preference or the kind of production. Answer what you can. Where you do not know, ask it to help you work out why the answer matters.
A useful question changes a decision or prevents a wrong assumption. If you are getting a long questionnaire, ask dot to focus on the few answers it needs to proceed and identify what can wait.
A conversation that advances the task
Dot
Does 2–4 pm include setup and pack-down?
This affects the hire period.
You
That is the production time. I don’t know how long setup needs. As you compare spaces, check their setup guidance and keep this as a question for the enquiry.
Uncertainty becomes work to do.
You
Before drafting, tell me which facts are confirmed and which questions still need the venue’s answer.
Check the brief as it develops.
Illustrative exchange. The value is in the decision each message makes possible.
03 / Make research useful
Turn a source
into a useful question
Research helps when it changes what you do next.
For this example, we’ll enquire about Practice Space. Its suitability and availability still need confirmation. Ask dot to use current, official venue information and link important claims.
Read the source behind a consequential detail. Separate what the page states, what dot infers and what remains unknown. Turn important gaps into questions for the venue.
The source says
“Audience seating will be set up only upon request.”
The page also says extra setup time is required.
For this task
We need to request seating and allow for setup.
The page does not establish our setup duration or cost.
A question for the enquiry
How much extra time and cost should we allow for seating setup?
The research gives us a question to include in the enquiry.
04 / Direct the result
Make good work
recognizable
Words like “professional” and “high quality” leave a lot open to interpretation. Give dot something it can assess.
Describe how you will use the result. An enquiry should make it easy for the venue to understand your event and answer the questions that determine your next step.
For a document, the same principle applies. A guide should help a beginner understand an idea and do something with it. When you supply a reference, explain what you value: the opening, the amount of detail or the way examples are used. Ask dot to study those choices and apply the relevant ones to your task.
When the approach is uncertain, review a small piece first. One opening or one page can reveal whether dot has understood the standard before it expands the whole document.
Broad request
Make it professional.
Observable standard
Keep the enquiry concise. Put the event details first, ask the questions we need answered and remove promotional language.
Assess the section itself. A summary of the reference does not show whether the new work has improved.
04 / Direct the result
Revise the part
that missed the point
You can correct dot in ordinary language. Name what is wrong, explain why it matters and say what a useful change would achieve. Preserve details that are already right so a revision does not quietly change the brief.
Suppose the first draft asks about availability and rates but leaves out the seating question we identified. The correction should connect the source to the missing question.
Before
After
Could you confirm availability and share your hire rates?
Could you confirm availability and share your hire rates? How much extra time and cost should we allow for seating setup?
04 / Direct the result
When revisions
keep going in circles
Repeated corrections can reveal a problem with the approach.
Consider a document task. You ask for a better guide. Dot changes the colour, shortens the text and moves a few boxes. The pages still do not explain the subject well. At that point, more polishing may be working on the wrong problem.
Identify which part needs attention: the brief, the structure, the explanation or the presentation.
Ask for a different approach when another small edit will not address the issue. Give dot a concrete standard to meet and inspect a representative piece before expanding it.
- The work answers the wrong question
- Revisit the brief
- The argument is hard to follow
- Rebuild the structure
- An idea is still unclear
- Change the explanation
- The page is hard to read
- Fix the presentation
05 / Set authority and access
Make the decision
explicit
Say what you are choosing, and what you want dot to do next.
“I like this” can mean you like one quality of an early draft. Tell dot whether to keep that quality, explore an approach or use a version as the final draft.
Approving a draft does not authorize sending it. Give the action a clear scope: which reviewed version, recipient and account. Permissions and built-in checks still apply even when you have given an instruction.
- A preference
- I like this tone. Keep it in the draft.
- A direction to explore
- Develop this approach so I can review it.
- Approval of a version
- Use this as the final draft.
- Authorization to act
- Send this reviewed draft to the confirmed venue address from my connected account.
05 / Set authority and access
Connect the tools
the task needs
Public venue research can use dot’s cloud browser. Sending through your email account requires an available email connection or browser session with the necessary permissions. Ask dot what it can use before expecting the message to be sent.
Review the account you are connecting and the actions it allows. Reading email and sending email can have different permissions. Connecting a way to talk to dot does not automatically connect your inbox or files.
A contact method
Where you talk to dot
and receive updates
An app connection
The service’s information
and permitted actions
Your computer
Local files and apps
while the device is available
For local work, keep the connected computer online with the ChatGPT app open.
06 / Keep the work coherent
Give longer work
a clear current state
As a task grows, ask dot to keep the brief, decisions, sources and current files together. Name the version you want it to use. When a requirement changes, say which part of the current work needs to change with it.
Dot can draw on saved notes and relevant context, but its memory is not a complete transcript. A separate task has its own conversation and receives context for that work. Give it the source and current decision that matter instead of assuming it has seen everything.
A useful handover
- Current brief
- What we are trying to achieve now
- Decisions
- What has been chosen or approved
- Sources
- What the work is based on
- Current output
- The version to review or continue
- Open questions
- What still needs an answer
07 / Finish the task
Review the work,
then the status
“Complete” is useful only when you can see what was completed.
Open the output. Read the message, follow important source links and inspect the rendered document. A file may exist and still be unusable. A successful run may have produced only part of the result you requested.
Ask dot to tell you what exists, what it checked and what still needs a decision or action. In the desktop app, Activity in your dot’s profile lets you inspect tasks, results and requests for input.
| A claim | Useful evidence |
|---|---|
| The research is done | Relevant findings with source links |
| The draft is ready | The current draft you can open |
| The changes are applied | The current version with the requested changes visible |
| The enquiry was sent | The message in that account’s Sent folder |
07 / Finish the task
Review. Send.
Confirm.
By now, the venue enquiry should contain the event details, ask about suitability and availability, and cover the costs or requirements you need the venue to clarify. Read the whole current message before authorizing the send.
Check the recipient against the venue’s official contact information. Then check the sending account, the date and time zone, the headcount and any attachments. Make sure the message asks for the venue’s answer rather than implying a booking has already been agreed.
- 1
The right destination
Confirmed venue address and sending account
- 2
The right facts
Date, time zone, headcount and requirements
- 3
The right message
Current version, with the questions you need answered
If a send is blocked, respond to the access or approval request dot shows you. If dot cannot send through an available connection, open your email account, paste the reviewed draft and send it yourself. Then check the sent message.
Your first task is done.
The enquiry is sent. You have a record of what you asked and who you contacted. The booking remains a later decision, once the venue replies.
Keep this nearby
Useful things
to say to dot
Use the line that fits the moment. Add the context your task needs.
- You are unsure where to begin
- Help me choose a useful first task and tell me what you need to start.
- The brief is still rough
- Which details change the answer? Ask me about those first.
- Research feels detached from the work
- Show how the finding changes our next decision or the draft.
- The result feels generic
- Here is a reference. Explain what makes it work and apply that to one part of mine.
- A revision misses the point
- The problem is ___. Change ___ so that ___. Keep ___ intact.
- The project has changed direction
- Restate the current brief and the decisions you are working from.
- You cannot tell what is finished
- Show the current result, what you checked and what remains.
- An action affects someone else
- Show me the exact message, destination and account before I authorize it.
Notes & sources
Read further
Product details checked against OpenAI documentation on 3 October 2026. Availability and interface details may change.
Dot: setup and everyday use
Meet dots
What dot can do and current availability
Get started with your dot
Setup and your first conversation
Prompting
Giving useful context and refining a result
Dot: access, continuity and control
Computers and apps
App access, cloud sessions and private sign-in
Tasks and memory
Assigned work, task context and recurring work
Control your dot
Action review, permissions and stopping work
Venue example
Practice Space / The Theatre Practice
Official seating and setup information
The event details and conversation excerpts are illustrative. The seating policy is from the linked venue page. No email was sent in creating this guide. Diagrams explain concepts; they are not screenshots of the app.
Editorial approach informed by Every’s Claw School, The Eight Levels of AI Adoption and AI Style Guides. The guide also draws on lessons from Nat’s work with an agent, including revisions that did not address the underlying problem and the need to check the actual result.