> Before a big tidy-up, write how you want things organised in a memo and ask your AI to follow it. You get the structure you meant, and can reuse it.

# Write an organising brief as a memo

Before you ask your AI to reorganise a collection or tidy up your memos, write down what you want in a memo: the goal, the structure, how to name things and what to leave alone. Then ask your AI to follow it. It works to your plan instead of its own guess, it shows you what it will change before it starts, and the brief is there to reuse and improve next time.

## A brief or standing instructions?

- **A brief** is for one job: a reorganise, a clean-up, a new way of tagging things. It can be as long as the job needs.

- **Standing instructions** are the rules that should hold every time anyone's AI works in a collection. See [Give a collection standing instructions](https://help.fieldwerk.ai/wn60xwy68v/give-a-collection-standing-instructions.md).

When a rule in your brief turns out to be one you always want, move it into the collection's instructions.

## What a good brief says

- **The goal.** What should be easier once it's done.

- **What's in scope.** Which collection, notebook or set of memos, and what's off limits.

- **The structure.** Which collections, notebooks and properties to use, and the allowed values for each. See [Group memos inside a collection with notebooks](https://help.fieldwerk.ai/0ze3d1lmmz/group-memos-inside-a-collection.md) and [Track work with properties](https://help.fieldwerk.ai/hp1532ap47/track-work-with-properties.md).

- **Naming.** How titles should read.

- **What not to do,** and when to stop and ask.

For example:

> Sort the memos in this collection into one notebook per client. Set status on each memo to Active or Done. Title meeting notes with the date first. Don't edit any memo's text, don't delete anything, and ask me about any memo that doesn't clearly belong to one client.

## Ask your AI to help write the brief

```prompt
In Fieldwerk, help me write an organising brief. Show me my collections and ask which one needs organising. Ask me what I'm trying to achieve, then draft a brief as a new memo covering what's in scope, the structure to use, how to name things and what not to touch. Show me the draft before you save it.
```

## Ask your AI to follow it

```prompt
In Fieldwerk, read the organising brief I'm about to give you. Then list every change you'd make to follow it, memo by memo, and anything the brief doesn't cover. Make only the changes I agree to, and tell me what you did.
```

If the result isn't quite right, change the brief, not just the memos, and run it again. Every change your AI makes is in each memo's history. See [See and restore earlier versions of a memo](https://help.fieldwerk.ai/pncsjucznc/see-and-restore-earlier-versions.md).