Reason deeper – chain-of-thought and advanced reasoning patterns

📄 Section 4: Reason deeper – chain-of-thought and more techniques

🎯 Learning objectives

• Activate chain-of-thought when multi-step reasoning needs to be auditable
• Use few-shot when descriptions of tone/structure fall short
• Choose perspective, step-back, and decomposition for complex decisions

Chain-of-thought – think out loud

Ask for step-by-step reasoning before a conclusion when:

• there are multiple factors to weigh
• you need to audit the logic
• a wrong conclusion is costly

Phrases that often work: “Think step by step”, “Show your reasoning before the conclusion”, “Identify the factors, assess each one, then give your recommendation”.

Few-shot – show the pattern

Instead of just “respond in format X” you can show a short filled-in template:

Example:
Issue: Supplier requests 30-day payment terms.
Assessment: Exceeds our standard of 20 days.
Recommendation: Negotiate down to 20 days or require a concession.

This controls tone, structure, and level of detail in ways that are hard to describe in a single sentence.

More tools in the toolbox

• Perspective analysis: “Analyze from economic, legal, and operational perspectives before summarizing.”
• Step-back: start with a broader background question, then the specific one.
• Self-ask / decomposition: ask the model to list sub-questions and answer them one by one for broad questions.

No technique is “always best” – task and model determine it. Test.

🖊 Try it yourself

Ask a complex work question without and with the sentence: “Describe your reasoning step by step before the conclusion.” What difference do you notice?

Summary

• CoT → auditable reasoning.
• Few-shot → controls format and nuances that are hard to describe.
• Perspective / step-back / decomposition → structure for complexity.

Test your knowledge

2 questions · 100% correct to pass · Review your answers when done

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