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Automation Squad
You run thisWritten for ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini (deep research mode)

Make deep research mode actually earn the ten minutes

Robert MacKelfresh

By Robert MacKelfresh

Founder, Automation Squad

Deep research modes fail most often because they're pointed at a topic instead of a decision, so they return a well-cited essay that changes nothing. Naming the decision first, and demanding the counter-case and the falsifier, turns ten minutes of compute into something you can act on — and section 6 is the one that saves you, because it tells you where the answer is thin.

The prompt

Use deep research for this. Take the time you need.

The decision I'm actually making: [WHAT YOU WILL DO DIFFERENTLY DEPENDING ON THE ANSWER]. Not the topic — the decision. If the research doesn't change what I do, it failed.

The question: [YOUR QUESTION]

Constraints that rule things out for me: [BUDGET, TIMELINE, TEAM SIZE, ANYTHING NON-NEGOTIABLE]

Structure your answer like this:
1. The short answer, in three sentences, before any evidence.
2. The three or four options that genuinely exist, each with what it costs, what it takes to run, and who it suits. Cut anything that fails my constraints above — don't list it politely and then rule it out.
3. What the evidence actually says versus what vendors claim. Name where a claim comes from a company selling the thing.
4. The strongest case against your recommendation. Argue it properly, don't strawman it.
5. What would change your answer — the specific fact or number that, if I discovered it, should flip your recommendation.
6. What you couldn't find out, and why.

Rules: cite sources with dates. If a source is older than [HOW OLD IS TOO OLD FOR THIS TOPIC — e.g. 12 months], say so and flag it. Where sources disagree, show the disagreement rather than averaging it into mush.

One more thing: use anything you already know about me from our past chats and anything you're connected to. If you can find it yourself, don't make me look it up.

Copy it, paste it, run it. Nothing here is gated.

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Written for ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini (deep research mode) as of August 2026. Models change — if this stops working the way it should, that is worth telling us about.