5.3 — Creating Effective System-Level Instructions

CCAO-F Domain 5 · Task 5.3

What You Need to Know

System-level instructions are standing rules written in plain English. They live in one of three places:

Level	Reach	Who sets it
Account-wide	All of your conversations	You (Settings > Your Claude / Instructions for Claude)
Project-level	That Project’s chats only	Project members
Organisation-level	Every conversation across the organisation	Owners / Primary Owners on Team & Enterprise

Where levels overlap, organisation instructions take precedence.

The Placement Question

Place every rule by asking what it is true of:

• True of you across all your work → account-wide
• True of one body of work → that Project’s instructions
• True of everyone in the organisation → organisation instruction (request through workspace Owner)
• Only true of today’s job → part of today’s prompt (Domain 1)

Behaviour, Not Aspiration

A useful instruction is checkable: “Keep each item under ninety seconds when read aloud” can be followed and failed. “Be engaging” cannot. Working test: could a new colleague follow this and produce what you wanted?

Short and Prioritised Beats Long and Exhaustive

Standing instructions should contain only what is true every time. A short prioritised set is followed more reliably than a long exhaustive one. When a set has outgrown what a colleague could hold in their head, group it and prioritise it.

Key Concept: Two questions settle almost every item. What is this rule true of? (level). Could a new colleague follow it and be checked against it? (wording).

Exam Traps

• The aspiration dressed as an instruction (“be professional, be thorough”)
• Writing this week’s requirement into the standing instructions
• Placing one Project’s rules at account level, or setting an organisation-wide rule personally as an ordinary member