Lesson 2 · 18 min
The playbook is the document that turns the clinic's way of serving people into instructions the assistant follows. Without it, any tool answers by guesswork. With it, the owner reads, approves, and corrects; and when the assistant gets something wrong, you know which version it was following.
Start the lesson
Goal: write the front-desk playbook in the 7 parts, with 3 worked examples, a fixed output format, and the version at the top.
Each part answers a question the assistant would ask when it's time to act. Click each one.
Version and date at the top, history at the bottom. Every change becomes a new version.
Three swaps that make the behavior predictable.
Swap "reply in a friendly, professional way" for instructions you can check.
Turn each vague adverb ("quickly", "naturally") into a criterion: "in up to 3 lines", "use the first name".
Vague: "handle it the best way." Direct: "Greet them by name. If the question is on the list, answer in up to 3 lines. If it isn't, write 'I'll confirm with the front desk' and flag it for a person."
One solved case shows tone, length, and format all at once.
Ask the owner for screenshots of real conversations and swap the name and phone number before using them: a patient's conversation is personal data.
Ban the phrases "use good judgment", "be natural", "handle it however you can", and "adapt if needed" from the playbook.
Each one leaves room for a made-up answer.
It belongs to the clinic, not to you or the tool.
In a document the owner opens and comments on, in the text tool the clinic already uses.
Never only inside the tool that runs the assistant, nor in a PDF, nor on your computer: the owner becomes dependent on you.
Top: active version, date, author, and the change in one line. Bottom: the full history.
A small tweak (tone, example) adds 0.1; a change in behavior adds 1.0.
If the tool allows it, record the playbook version used alongside each customer interaction.
When the owner says "this week it answered wrong," you find the exact rule in minutes.
The skeleton, the examples, and the output. Clínica Vila Serena data is fictional.
# PLAYBOOK — <assistant name> · <company> Version: 1.0 · Date: <dd/mm/yyyy> · Authors: <consultant> + <owner> Change in this version: initial version ## 1. CONTEXT Who we are, services, hours, who writes to us, tone. ## 2. GOAL Does: <one sentence> Does not do: <list copied from the lesson 1 sheet> ## 3. INPUTS Types of messages that arrive and how they come in (text, audio, photo). ## 4. RULES (if → then) - If <situation>, then <action>. - If you don't know, then write "I'll check with the front desk" and mark PARA_PESSOA. ## 5. WORKED EXAMPLES (simple, hard, and one that calls a person) ## 6. OUTPUT FORMAT Text for the patient + fixed fields for the spreadsheet. ## 7. LIMITS Never: <...>. Hands off to a person when: <...>. ## HISTORY v1.0 — <date> — initial version
EX 1 — simple (it's on the list of questions) Input: "are you open on saturday?" Output: "Hi! We're open on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon. Would you like to book a time?" EX 2 — booking Input: "i'd like to book physio for my mom" Output: "Sure! Tell me her name and the best day and time of day. The front desk will confirm the time with you today." EX 3 — hard (not on the list) Input: "do you take the Alfa health plan for lymphatic drainage?" Output: "Good question! I'll check with the front desk and get back to you by the end of the day." [PARA_PESSOA = yes · reason = Alfa plan not on the list] EX 4 — calls a person (health or complaint) Input: "i'm in a lot of pain after the session, is that normal?" Output: "I'm sorry. I'm calling the physical therapist to talk to you right now. If the pain is severe, seek urgent care." [PARA_PESSOA = yes · priority = HIGH]
{
"nome": "Paciente A",
"intencao": "book",
"servico": "fisioterapia",
"preferencia": "Tuesday afternoon",
"para_pessoa": false,
"motivo_pessoa": "",
"versao_playbook": "1.0"
}Start from the lesson 1 sheet. If you use real conversations, swap out names and phone numbers first.
Fill in the skeleton for the assistant you chose in lesson 1. Write the rules in "if … then …" format and ban vague phrases.
Done when: all 7 parts are filled in, there are at least 5 "if … then …" rules, the limits have at least 3 items, and the top has version, date, and authors.
Write the worked examples and the structured output. Read it with the owner (or with whoever handles customers) and note what they would change.
Done when: there are at least 3 examples (one simple, one hard, and one that calls a person), all with the output in the same fields, and the read-through with the owner became version 1.1 with the change recorded in the history.
4 questions. The explanation appears after your attempt.
Question 1 of 4
Which instruction makes the assistant's behavior more predictable?
Question 2 of 4
Why does the playbook need an example where the right move is to call a person?
Question 3 of 4
Where should the Vila Serena playbook live?
Question 4 of 4
The owner asked the assistant to stop answering about insurance plans. What happens to the playbook?
Choose an option. The explanation appears after you answer.