Map
Framework

RTF (Role–Task–Format)

The question it answers

When a department head wants an AI chatbot to draft a short plan or briefing without writing a long brief, what is the minimum the prompt needs to say?

Origin
Dramsch, 2023; Kremb, 2023
Diagram type
Process by phase
Level of analysis
Individual
Topics
AI for leaders
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Diagram

RTF (Role–Task–Format)

  1. RTF
  2. RoleWho the AI speaks as: a teacher, a doctor, a machine learning expert. The role sets the viewpoint of the answer.
  3. TaskThe question or problem the AI must tackle. It defines the goal of the answer.
  4. FormatHow the answer is structured and styled: a table, a level of technicality, or an audience such as middle-school students.

When to use it, and when not to

Use it when

Kremb calls RTF the jack-of-all-trades prompt, usable for most requests, even outside work. Dramsch uses it to get useful answers quickly from large language models.

Pitfalls

Pitfall

Not every write-up reads the R the same way: an AWS Builder Center article (Acharya, 2024) reads it as Request, while the two earliest sources found, Dramsch and Kremb, use Role. State which reading you are using.

Sources

References

Listed A–Z by author surname, Harvard style. A source with a DOI links to https://doi.org/…; one without links to its page or says plainly that it has no DOI.

  1. Acharya, G. (2024) Considerations for effective prompts engineering and prompt frameworks. AWS Builder Center, 9 October 2024.No DOIbuilder.aws.comSource page
  2. Dramsch, J. (2023) Role, Task, Format: the chatGPT prompt I keep using. Real-world Machine Learning (dramsch.net), 13 July 2023.No DOIdramsch.netSource page
  3. Kremb, M. (2023) 5 prompt frameworks to level up your prompts. The Prompt Warrior (newsletter), 13 October 2023.No DOIthepromptwarrior.comSource page