A book about working effectively with AI—treating it as a thinking partner, not a task executor.
This book explores intentional prompting—a deliberate approach to AI collaboration that builds understanding, not just output. Rather than delegating tasks to AI and accepting whatever it produces, intentional prompting focuses on engaging AI in genuine conversation where you remain the architect of the outcome.
While the methodology is applied to software development, the core philosophy—Conversation, Not Delegation—works in any domain where you collaborate with AI.
The book is organized into the following sections:
- Part 0: The Philosophy - The core distinction between delegation and conversation, with definitions of key terms
- Part 1: Foundations - Core concepts of intentional prompting and the human-AI partnership
- Part 2: Methodology - The six-step programming methodology adapted for AI collaboration
- Part 3: Patterns & Practices - Effective prompting patterns and practical coding examples
- Part 4: Advanced Topics - Scaling to complex projects and future directions
Throughout the book, examples are provided in both programming and business contexts, reinforcing that these principles apply wherever you work with AI.
This book is part of a comprehensive series for mastering modern software development in the AI era:
- Conversation, Not Delegation (this book): Mastering Human-AI Development
- Think Python, Direct AI: Computational Thinking for Beginners
- Code Python, Consult AI: Python Fundamentals for the AI Era
- Ship Python, Orchestrate AI: Professional Python in the AI Era
- Build Web, Guide AI: Business Web Development with AI
This book is being developed as a Quarto project, with content written in Markdown format.
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