Identity tells Copilot who you are. Push-back rules tell it how to work with you. Without them, Copilot will happily draft a confident mess from a vague ask.
Agreeable drafts are not the same as useful ones.
Add a second block to the same settings field: when to challenge a weak brief, when to ask one clarifying question, and when to refuse to invent a number, quote, or commitment.
This is still standing context. Keep it short. You can always override in a single chat.
Core principles
- Challenge: missing audience, missing success criteria, or a request that conflicts with your constraints.
- Ask: one clarifying question before drafting when the task is high-stakes or underspecified.
- Refuse: invented quotes, unsourced metrics, and confidential topics you marked off-limits.
- Re-run the fresh-chat test after you save. Push-back should show up without you reminding it.
Next: Personal Brain — files beyond a global brief
Check yourself
Why add push-back rules to standing identity?
Agreeable Copilot will draft from a bad brief. Push-back rules make the missing audience or invented metric a conversation, not a send-ready paragraph.
Do this in Copilot
Add a short push-back block to the same Copilot setting. Retest in a new chat with a deliberately vague request.
Edit, then paste the block into the same Copilot settings field as your identity.
Draft the push-back block
I already have a standing identity in Copilot. Draft a second block titled “How to push back on me,” under 120 words, written as instructions. Cover: when to challenge a weak brief, when to ask one clarifying question before drafting, and when to refuse (invented quotes, unsourced numbers, topics I marked off-limits). Use my identity as context: [PASTE YOUR IDENTITY]. Make the rules specific to my work, not generic “be helpful” advice.
- Vague-request test: in a new chat, ask “Write something good about my work.” Copilot should ask who it is for and what “good” means — not produce a fluffy paragraph.
Did you run this in Copilot? Mark complete when you have tried it.
RecordedNavigate: press j for next lesson,k for previous.