The Shape of the Question

“You don’t get the answer you want.

You get the answer you ask for.”

Today felt like a turning point.

The website now shows only what’s ready for the world, the assistant has leveled up to GPT-5, and even the way it thinks — the embeddings under the hood — is sharper. It’s a good day to talk about why the shape of the question matters so much.

Yesterday a friend told me he was disappointed in ChatGPT-5. The results, he said, weren’t worth the hype. Then he showed me his prompt: two words. That’s like walking into a library, looking at the librarian, and saying, “History. Go.”

You’ll get something back — a random fact, maybe a short blurb — but it won’t match the picture you had in your head. Because you never let anyone see the picture.

The same thing happens in code, in design, in life. I’ve been watching a wave of “vibe coders” building new tools and websites. A lot of what they produce looks rough around the edges — but in a good way. They’re learning by touching the medium, asking questions, seeing what comes back. Over time, their prompts will mature. They’ll stop saying, “Build me a website,” and start saying:

Not great:

“Make me a website about coffee.”

Better:

“Build a one-page coffee shop website with a warm, rustic feel. Include a section for today’s specials, a gallery with six images, and a contact form that sends to info@beanandbarrel.com.”

That second version isn’t “technical” — it’s just clear. You can feel the shape of what’s wanted before it exists.

And this applies far beyond AI:

• Household: Instead of “Fix my sink,” try “The kitchen sink is leaking at the base when I run hot water. The drip is steady, about one per second. I have basic tools but no replacement parts.”

• Legal: Instead of “Explain my rights,” try “I’m a tenant in Iowa. My landlord entered my apartment without notice while I was at work. What are my legal rights in this situation?”

The magic isn’t in the jargon. It’s in giving enough context that the person — or the model — knows where to start. Preloading the brain you’re talking to with the right boundaries and details is the difference between a vague gesture and a solid outcome.

Clarity isn’t sterile. It’s not about turning human needs into bullet points. It’s about letting someone — human or machine — see what you see. Because if they can’t picture it, they can’t build it.