You're using Claude wrong.

Here's how to it set up right in 5 steps:

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Step 1: Let Claude identify your Projects

Open a new Claude chat. Paste this prompt:

I work at [company + industry]. My team specifically helps [clients/goal]. You are helping me set up Claude for my team. We need to identify the 3-5 recurring deliverables my team produces. Interview me. Ask me ONE question at a time about: 1. What my team does day-to-day. 2. What we deliver to clients, leadership, or each other. 3. What tasks feel repetitive every week or month. 4. What each person always ends up redoing.

After 4 Q&As, Claude gives you your Project list.

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Step 2: Create each Project

Go to Claude's Projects page.

Click "Teams" then "New Project."

Create one Project per deliverable.

Set visibility to "entire workspace."

Repeat for all 3-5. Takes 2 minutes each.

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Step 3: Upload the right context

Open each Project. Upload exactly 3 things:

✦ One gold-standard example.

✦ Relevant background docs.

✦ The brief your team currently follows.

Access my own files here: how-to-claude.ai

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Step 4: Generate tailored instructions

Open a separate Claude chat (Opus + Extended Thinking). Paste this:

I'm setting up this Claude Project for: [name of deliverable]. I've uploaded example outputs and background docs. Generate a Project Instruction set that includes: WHAT THIS IS: One sentence. WHO IT'S FOR: The audience. TONE & FORMAT: How it should read. QUALITY BAR: What separates good from bad. GUARDRAILS: What to never do. Format as a ready-to-paste instruction block.

Copy the output. Go back to your Project.

Paste it into Instructions. Save.

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Step 5: Test and validate

Open a new chat inside the Project. Paste this:

Based on the instructions and examples in this Project, produce a sample [deliverable name] for [a recent or fictional scenario]. Then critique your own output: what matches our standards, what doesn't, and what should I add to make it better?

Claude will self-critique and tell you exactly what's missing. If it says "I don't have enough info about client naming conventions," upload that doc.

Don't skip this. Your team's first experience with the Project becomes the test.

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What changes after:

→ Every chat in the Project already knows the rules.

→ Your team stops prompting from scratch.

→ You stop re-explaining tone, format, and context.

→ New hires get your standards on day one.

Full setup guide + all 5 prompts: how-to-claude.ai