Overview
A Skill turns a task you repeat into a procedure that Claude follows the same way every time. Instead of pasting the same instructions into every conversation, you write them once, test them, and make them available to the team.
This hands-on day shows how to choose the right tasks, write a Skill with a description, workflow, examples and templates, test and improve it, and look after it as a team. Each participant builds and tests a Skill for a real task.
Who it's for
Specialist users and key users who want to handle recurring tasks consistently and to the same quality using Claude. It is especially suited to:
- Key users and team champions
- Team leaders in administration, HR, purchasing and project work
- Process owners who document and standardise how work is done
Prerequisites
- No programming skills are needed
- Experience of working with Claude Projects
- Two or three recurring tasks, with examples, that you could turn into a Skill
By the end of this course you will be able to
- Explain what a Skill is and how it differs from a Project, an instruction and an agent
- Find tasks that are worth turning into a Skill
- Write a Skill with a description, workflow, examples and templates
- Test a Skill on real cases and improve it
- Share, name and maintain Skills in a team
- Combine Skills with connectors and Cowork
Course outline
Times show the standard running order and can be adjusted when we tailor the course to your team. The trainer stays available during breaks to help anyone finish an exercise.
Welcome & orientation 10 min
How the day runs and the recurring tasks each person brings.
Levels of working with Claude 45 min
Chat, instructions, memory, Projects, Skills and agents: what each level is for, and what belongs where so that nothing contradicts. Examples of ready-made Skills from Anthropic, such as those that create Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.
Try it: Review your standing instructions and mark the parts that belong in a Skill.
Finding the right workflow 40 min
Three tests for a good candidate: it happens often, has fixed steps and needs a consistent format. Examples from administration, purchasing, HR and project work, and describing the input material and the result you want.
Try it: Choose two candidates for your own Skill and describe each in a few lines.
Structure of a Skill 60 min
What goes into a Skill: a description of when it applies, a workflow in steps with checkpoints, good and bad examples, templates and reference files. Having Claude help draft it, and packaging it as a Skill file to add to your account. The GCES method (Goal, Context, Expectations, Source) helps to write the instructions clearly.
Try it: Write the first Skill for one of your candidates.
Testing and improving 55 min
Building three to five test cases with expected results, spotting typical errors such as a description that is too broad or missing limits, and comparing versions of the Skill.
Try it: Test your Skill on three real cases and save an improved version.
Skills in the team 50 min
Making a Skill available to colleagues: handing over a Skill file for each person to add, and organisation-wide provisioning by an owner on Team and Enterprise plans. Approvals and who is responsible, plus naming rules, version notes and a maintenance routine.
Try it: Hand your Skill file and a short usage note to a colleague, who adds it to their account and runs it on a test case.
Combining Skills with connectors and Cowork 40 min
Using a Skill to tell Claude how to work with data from connectors, and having Cowork follow the same procedure on tasks in a folder.
Try it: Describe how your Skill would use a connector or run as part of a Cowork task.
Skills clinic: your candidate list 35 min
Outline a second Skill and rank the rest of your candidates by value and effort, ready to build after the course.
Try it: Outline a second Skill and rank your remaining candidates.
Close 10 min
Recap of the day and the plan for rolling out your Skills.
What you'll need
Claude
- A Claude account on a paid plan (Pro, Team or Enterprise) with Skills enabled. Skills need code execution and file creation to be switched on; on Team and Enterprise this is an administrator setting.
- Provisioning a Skill for a whole organisation is done by an organisation owner on a Team or Enterprise plan. If you do not have this, the session shows it as a demonstration.
Preparation
- Experience of working with Claude Projects.
- Two or three recurring tasks, with examples, that you could turn into a Skill.
- A laptop.
Practice files are provided for every exercise. You are welcome to use your own everyday documents where your organisation's policy allows.