Lean assistants with clear boundaries are easier to trust and maintain. Overloaded assistant instructions can conflict and produce unstable answers.
Define purpose, allowed tasks, sources, format and when the assistant should ask questions.
Start with a narrow boundary: which website, space, file, recipient or decision is affected? This makes the task reviewable instead of turning it into a broad catch-all request.
A useful work order is: “Review this assistant for redundant or conflicting rules and propose a leaner version.” For important cases, add that uncertainties must be marked visibly instead of being filled in silently.
Pay special attention to current work status, confirmed decisions and open questions. These points decide whether the result is only useful for the moment or can be found, checked and continued by the team later.
Do not encode every exception as a permanent assistant rule.
Small assistants are easier to test and safer for teams.