Tech-Neill-ogy #95 - 8 June 2025

Welcome to Tech-Neill-ogy #95!

I cannot say I’m terribly proud about the newsletter lapses as of late, but after graduation two Saturdays ago, I think my immune system just shut down, and I ended up with the flu, causing me to miss a few days of work. I’m pulling through now, but when I got in front of my computer, I had 543 emails, believe it or not. In any case, we are headed into our last week of classes, and then the winter (summer) holidays. I plan to continue with the newsletter through the holidays, but there might be some more skipped weeks. My family and I are headed to the US for about a month with a week in Panama first. I hope you all are able to get some well-deserved rest in the coming months!

For now, though, enjoy the newsletter!

Trouble-shooting! It is a primary function of a college counselor. Take a look at this prompt I found in Zain Kahn’s “Superpower” newsletter:

I want you to act as a process improvement expert and systems thinker. I’m currently facing the following recurring problem: [describe the issue in detail with background context]. Assist me in conducting a Root Cause Analysis to understand and resolve this issue at the source.

Start by helping me clearly define the problem — include when, where, and how often it occurs. Guide me in gathering the relevant data or patterns around this issue. Then, use diagnostic frameworks (like the 5 Whys, Fishbone Diagram (Ishikawa), or Pareto Principle) to explore possible contributing factors.

Once we identify the most likely root cause(s), recommend practical, realistic solutions to address it — both immediate fixes and long-term preventive strategies.

Bonus: Share an example from a similar situation or industry to show how the same method worked elsewhere.

Put some time into detailing your issue and the context, and see what happens. It is pretty amazing. Remember that when it comes to prompting, garbage in means garbage out.

In any case, if you have any great prompts or ideas, please share! Send me a note at [email protected].

For this week’s non-tech article, I wanted to give a shout-out to friends Brennan Barnard and Rick Clark and their “Truth About College Admission” newsletter and website. Here’s May’s newsletter:

This is a great resource, so take a look and sign up!

Enjoy your week! Happy counseling!

Jeff