Week 2️⃣ of Skip the Blank Page Month: Prompting tips and tricks

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It’s WEEK 2️⃣ OF SKIP THE BLANK PAGE MONTH: March 9!

The theme of week 2 of Skip the Blank Page month is all about better prompting ✏️.

We know the saying - garbage in, garbage out…and we can’t allow that! So stay tuned with us this week as we share tips, best practices, and real examples so you can create better prompts with Rovo to get magic in, magic out 💖

In today’s post, we’ll share some quick prompting tips and tricks!

👉 Make sure to give this post some ❤️ by dropping a comment / GIF on if this was helpful or share other tips you’ve found useful. By commenting, you'll earn our exclusive Prompting Pro badge and be in running to win an exclusive Skip the Blank Page month swag box! 🎁

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What’s a prompt?

A prompt is a piece of text or instruction given to an AI to generate a response.

Think of it as a way to communicate with the AI, guiding it to produce your desired output. Understanding how to craft effective prompts is crucial because the quality of the AI's response is directly tied to the quality of the prompt and limiting AI hallucination.

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How can I write better prompts?

1️⃣ Add context to help Rovo understand the scenario

Provide helpful background information that can help Rovo understand the scenario.

Give it a persona or a situation like “You are a marketing manager working on a new campaign for …”

2️⃣ Define a clear action and goal

Be specific about what you want Rovo to do by using a strong action verb. Use "Analyze," "Draft," or "Categorize" instead of just "Write about."

Also, define any outcome you’re expecting from Rovo, such as format, length, tone, and any constraints. For example, “Make sure it’s not more than 300 words” or “use a professional tone.”

3️⃣ Provide reference or source materials

Built on the Atlassian Teamwork Graph, Rovo can automatically pull in connected data to draft tailored content based on your role, team, and existing projects.

However, as a best practice, you should also add any relevant links, templates, and / or examples to guide Rovo to create the best, context-rich content for you. For example, “Use this project plan page as a template… <link to project plan in Confluence>”

You can also ask Rovo to pull data in from your favorite 3P apps using our Rovo connectors. For example, “Pull related information from Slack and Google Docs to…”

4️⃣ Review the drafted content, then iterate with Rovo

Once Rovo creates the draft, review and refine as needed.

Ask Rovo in the chat to refine the content for accuracy, tone, structure – anything you want. For example, “Add a new section for key risks and next steps,” “Adjust tone to be more casual,” or “Condense this section to be more concise.”

👏 And there you go! Rovo created a fantastic first draft for you, saving you time and helping you keep work moving forward by skipping the blank page 😉

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Let’s put it to practice

Example #1

• 👌 Okay prompt: “Create a project kickoff page about this project”

• 💖 Better prompt: “You are a project manager for this new project. Using the linked Confluence pages about this project, draft a new page that summarizes the key points for a project kickoff. Include sections for: 1) background, 2) goals, 3) scope, 4) timeline, and 5) stakeholders. Keep it under 800 words. <Link to pages>”

Example #2

• 👌 Okay prompt: “Update this troubleshooting guide”

• 💖 Better prompt: “Rewrite this content <link to Confluence page> for frontline support agents who have 2–3 minutes to read it. Use a friendly, direct tone. Start with a 3-bullet TL;DR and then add a numbered list of clear steps they should follow.

Example #3

• 👌 Okay prompt: “Create a whiteboard for a retrospective”

• 💖 Better prompt: “Create a retrospective whiteboard for our team’s last sprint. Use the notes on this page as context <link to page>. Include clearly labeled columns for: 1) What went well, 2) What didn’t go well, 3) Ideas, and 4) Action items. Add a title area with the sprint name, dates, and team name at the top. Pre‑add 5 empty sticky notes under each column for teammates to fill in, and group any suggested action items at the bottom in a separate “Owners & due dates” area.

Hope this helps, happy creating!

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Don't forget...

• 🗓️ Keep track of all the Skip the Blank Page month activities

• 🎁 Participate in each Skip the Blank Page activity for the chance to win an exclusive swag, or the chance to win swag + $100 gift card if you participate in 4 or more Skip the Blank Page month activities!

• ✨ Have you tried creating content with Rovo yet? Try it now by clicking this direct link: create.with.rovo or clicking “+Create” button in Confluence

[Ivan Legazpi]

Good tips. I sometimes spend time re-prompting after the results are lacking. This makes more sense to give it good context from the get go. 

[Barbara Szczesniak]

I recently got an error message when I tried to compare the current version of a Confluence page to the previous one. Instead, I opened the current version and asked Rovo "what were the changes in version 93 of this page?" A simple prompt that gave me exactly what I needed.

I also used Rovo to help find the answer to a question posed in the community about using Confluence. See my response on https://community.atlassian.com/forums/Confluence-questions/jira-work-items-table-is-there-a-complete-list-of-fields-that/qaq-p/3202055 In this case, there was no context related to my instance.

I am going through an exercise to break down some very long Confluence pages into multiple pages that are easier for readers to navigate. I had manually gone through the page and created an outline of what sections to move into new child pages and created those pages (I copied the parent, deleted the text I didn't need, and added introductory text where needed). After reading this article, I tried this prompt on one of the pages I haven't yet divided: "To make this content easier for readers, how would you break this page up into separate pages, with related content grouped together on a page and links between the pages where necessary?"

Rovo's response: 

Here’s one way to restructure “Managing Sites” into a small, navigable set of pages so readers can quickly find “how to” tasks vs. reference details.

I’ll first show a proposed page tree, then note what moves where and the key cross-links to add.

It gave me 8 child pages, where I had planned 5, and grouped some content very differently than I would. For each page, it told me what content to include, the purpose of the page, and key links to add on the page (with the text to add about the link). After the child pages, it described what should stay on the parent page.

At the end, it put:

If you’d like, I can next draft the actual headings/TOC text for one of these pages (for example “Configuring a Site”) so you can paste it into Confluence and then drop in the existing content under the new headings.

I guess this means that Rovo would create the pages for me, but I'd still have to copy the content for that page from the current page. I will carefully review Rovo's suggested pages to see if:

• I want to group content differently than I had planned.
• The suggested page titles are better than what I had planned.
• I will also use the suggestions for links.

[Anamika Soni]

One prompting trick that’s been working well for me is telling Rovo the role and audience before asking it to generate something. Instead of just asking for documentation, I tried something like: “You are a developer writing onboarding notes for a new teammate joining the project.”

The result felt much clearer and more practical. Adding that role + audience context seems to help Rovo produce a much better first draft.

[Blerine Muliqi]

Great tips and motivation especially for people like me who lack patience on writing longer and detailed prompts!

[Tomislav Tobijas]

It sometimes takes a while to build the right context or persona so the AI understands what you're talking about and your actual goal. It might take a couple of prompts to build the desired environment, but in the end, it's usually worth it 🙂

For me, it's more like 50-50 when it comes to the "Create with Rovo" feature - sometimes it builds everything in the first try, but sometimes it takes a couple of iterations to get 'final' version. 👀

*btw, if anyone knows a good AI to make GIFs, converting this 'Taco prompting' illustration to GIF would be quite cool 😄

[Debbie Lindsey]

I appreciate the tips of defining the audience and purpose first, it helps me and ROVO to stay on track with relevant information.

[Kristin Lyons]

I'm still struggling a little bit personally with writing good prompts but this article is inspiring me to really focus on what I want to get out of Rovo!

[Mindy Park]

Love these comments + tips! Keep them coming 💖 At the end of the week, I'll announce who our 2 random winners are for this post. Reminder on what's included in the Skip the Blank Page swag box: 

[Sedera Randria]

When I use Rovo, I focus on the outcome I need, not on prompt engineering...

My goal: I want to visualize dependencies between projects.
First : if needed, ask me 2–3 relevant questions to refine my request.
Then : based on my context, act as a Rovo expert and suggest the best prompt that will deliver the requested result.

[Amanda Barber]

I think the Get the Most Out of Rovo Learning Path has some really great tips, but especially like this lesson about good prompting: https://community.atlassian.com/learning/path/get-the-most-out-of-rovo/course/best-practices-for-using-rovo/lesson/best-practices-for-writing-ai-prompts#the-basics-of-ai-prompting

My favorite part of using Rovo is how easy it is to add context right where I'm working!

[Martin Runge]

Thanks for pointing out the "Big Four" of prompt engineering: Context, Action, Reference, and Iteration. Since Rovo is uniquely powered by the Atlassian Teamwork Graph, your third point is actually Rovo's "superpower"!

[Liam - DevSamurai]

Great tips! I always remind myself that a prompt should be as clear as an explanation for a kid. It’s all about the details; the more specific you are, the better the Rovo understands the assignment!

[Alison Bunkell]

Great reminder to keep refining the prompts, don't make them too short and focus on the outcome you are aiming for.

[Pulkit Soni - Optimizory]

One small prompting habit I’ve started using is asking for a specific structure in the output. For example, instead of saying “summarize this page,” I tried: “Summarize this page with a short TL;DR followed by 3 key takeaways and next steps.”
The result was much easier to scan and share with the team. Defining the format upfront really improves the response.

[Rajat Pratap Singh]

[Philipp Sendek _catworkx_]

Seeing the difference between short statements and actual full prompts is a huge game changer in this day and age. Not just in saving time for back-and-forth but also the quality of the results is so much better.

[Rinjini Poddar]

Using structured prompts has significantly helped in organizing and managing content more effectively across both Confluence and Jira.

In Confluence, prompts have helped structure content in a clear and consistent format. Instead of manually organizing information, prompts guide the generation of well-defined sections such as summaries, key decisions, action items, and open questions. This makes documentation easier to read, improves knowledge sharing, and ensures that important information is not missed. It also helps maintain a standardized format across different pages, making it easier for teams to navigate and reference documentation.

In Jira, prompts assist in structuring issue descriptions, acceptance criteria, and task breakdowns. They help ensure that tickets contain the necessary details such as background context, clear requirements, expected outcomes, and dependencies. This reduces ambiguity, improves communication between teams, and helps developers and stakeholders better understand the scope of work.

Overall, prompts improve efficiency by reducing manual effort, maintaining consistency, and ensuring that information is structured in a meaningful way.

[Sanam Malleswari]

One prompting pattern that has worked really well for me with Rovo is combining role + context + output structure in a single prompt.

For example, when I’m drafting documentation in Confluence, instead of asking Rovo to “create documentation,” I prompt it like this:

“You are an Atlassian administrator documenting a change for internal teams. Using the information from this page, draft a Confluence update with sections for Background, Change Summary, Impact, Risks, and Next Steps. Keep it concise and structured for engineers and support teams.”

Adding the role, audience, and clear output structure usually gives a much stronger first draft and requires far fewer iterations. It’s been especially useful when creating project pages or operational documentation in Confluence using Rovo.

[Barbara Szczesniak]

Everyone, I'm really learning a lot from reading all of your responses here! Thank you!

[michal_tatulinski]

Thank you for tips, it is very helpfull.

I am curious, if it matter if we are polite for Rovo? Use words like: please, thank you, etc?

[Denise Sala]

How to Write a Prompt for an External User Guide

Using these two tickets insert links to two tickets, write a step-by-step, numbered, user guide (include this template), for external developers on how to install this new feature "feature name" for "product name". Include a flow chart that shows how the process connects from our product to the client server and to the end user. 

[Cornelia Jeppsson]

I wish everybody would give me as clear instructions when they request stuff as I give Rovo 😇

[Shane Kelly]

Excellent post. I often forget how much information I can put in a prompt. Thank you.

Sometimes I use Rovo to brainstorm and then pick what I like and create one concise prompt. 😅