Personas, Skills & Subagents - Indistinguishable

Moving beyond single prompts means building systems. Personas, Skills, and Subagents represent the progression from "using AI" to "working with AI." Understanding these concepts transforms AI from a tool you use occasionally into a team that amplifies everything you do.

What Are Personas?

Personas are AI assistants with persistent context and customized instructions.

Think of a Persona as an AI that already knows who you are, what you do, and how you work. Instead of explaining your context every time, you create a Persona once and it remembers.

How They Work

Platforms like Claude Projects or ChatGPT Custom GPTs let you:

Define custom instructions the AI follows every time
Upload reference documents the AI can access
Set the tone, style, and approach you prefer
Establish domain-specific knowledge

For Educators: Curriculum Developer Persona

Imagine creating a Persona called "Curriculum Developer" with these instructions:

You are a curriculum development specialist for [District Name]. You follow our district's curriculum framework, align to [State] standards, and understand our student demographics. When suggesting lessons, prioritize culturally responsive pedagogy and differentiated instruction. Always consider our 1:1 device program and available edtech tools.

Now every conversation with this Persona starts from this foundation. You don't explain your district every time. The AI already knows.

Key Benefits

Consistency: Same high-quality starting point every time
Efficiency: No repetitive context-setting
Expertise: Embeds your domain knowledge into the AI
Voice: Outputs naturally match your style and standards

What Are Skills?

Skills are reusable prompts or command templates for specific tasks.

While Personas define who the AI is, Skills define what it does. A Skill is a pre-built prompt that you can invoke repeatedly to accomplish a specific type of task with consistent quality.

How They Work

Skills can be:

Saved prompt templates you copy and customize
Slash commands (like /lesson-plan or /parent-email)
Documented workflows with specific steps
Structured prompts with fill-in-the-blank sections

For Educators: Lesson Plan Generator Skill

Here's an example Skill template:

Create a [duration] lesson plan for [grade level] [subject].

Topic: [specific topic]
Learning Objectives: [what students will be able to do]
Prior Knowledge: [what students already know]
Available Materials: [technology, manipulatives, etc.]

Include:
- Hook/engagement activity (5 min)
- Direct instruction with checks for understanding
- Guided practice with scaffolding
- Independent practice or application
- Formative assessment
- Differentiation for [specific student needs]
- Closure and preview of next lesson

Format as a table with timing, teacher actions, student actions, and materials for each section.

You save this once, then fill in the brackets each time. Consistent structure, customized content.

Key Benefits

Quality: Proven prompts that work well
Speed: No reinventing the wheel each time
Shareability: Colleagues can use your best prompts
Iteration: Improve the Skill over time

What Are Subagents?

Subagents are specialized AI assistants that handle specific types of tasks autonomously.

If Personas are generalists with context, Subagents are specialists with expertise. Each Subagent excels at one category of work, and you route tasks to the right specialist.

How They Work

Subagents might be:

Different Claude Projects for different purposes
Custom GPTs built for specific workflows
API-connected agents that can take actions
Part of an agentic workflow that chains multiple steps

For Educators: Assessment Writer Subagent

An Assessment Writer Subagent might be configured to:

Understand your curriculum standards deeply
Know the difference between formative and summative assessment
Generate questions at specified DOK levels
Create rubrics aligned to learning objectives
Format assessments for your LMS
Include accommodation considerations

When you need assessments, you don't prompt from scratch. You route the task to your Assessment Writer, provide the specifics, and receive high-quality output.

Key Benefits

Specialization: Deep expertise in narrow domains
Autonomy: Subagents can work with minimal supervision
Scalability: Handle more work by routing to specialists
Quality: Consistent excellence in their domain

How They Work Together

The power comes from combining all three:

Persona (WHO) + Skill (WHAT) + Subagent (SPECIALIST)
    ↓               ↓              ↓
 Your context   Your workflow   Deep expertise

Example Workflow

Persona: Your "District Communications" Persona knows your voice, community, and communication standards
Skill: Your "Parent Newsletter" Skill has the structure, sections, and format you use
Subagent: Your "Translation Specialist" Subagent handles accurate Spanish translations

Result: Consistent, high-quality newsletters in multiple languages, every time, with minimal effort.

Building Your AI Team

Start Simple

Week 1-2: Create one Persona for your most common use case
Week 3-4: Document 2-3 Skills for repetitive tasks
Month 2: Consider whether Subagents would help

Practical First Steps for Educators

| Role | Example Persona | Example Skills | | ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | | Teacher | "My Classroom Assistant" with grade/subject context | Lesson plan, rubric creation, parent email | | Curriculum Coordinator | "Curriculum Developer" with standards and frameworks | Unit planning, alignment check, resource review | | Principal | "School Communications" with community context | Newsletter, board report, staff memo | | Superintendent | "District Strategist" with district priorities | Policy analysis, community message, board presentation |

Signs You're Ready for the Next Level

Ready for Personas:

You copy-paste the same context regularly
Your prompts start with long explanations
You want consistent voice across outputs

Ready for Skills:

You do the same type of task weekly
You've refined a prompt that works well
Others ask "what prompt do you use?"

Ready for Subagents:

You have complex workflows with multiple steps
Different tasks need different expertise
You're ready to invest time in building systems

The Bigger Picture

This is about building an AI-powered team, not just using a chatbot.

| Level | Approach | Analogy | | ------------ | ----------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | | Basic | Single prompts | Asking a stranger for help | | Intermediate | Personas | Working with a colleague who knows you | | Advanced | Personas + Skills + Subagents | Managing a team of specialists |

The goal: Spend your time on high-value thinking and relationship work. Let your AI team handle the production work that supports it.

Action Items

This week: Create one Persona for your most common AI use case. Include your role, context, and preferences.
This month: Document your three best prompts as reusable Skills. Share them with a colleague.
This quarter: Evaluate whether specialized Subagents would improve your workflow for specific task categories.

The investment in building these systems pays dividends every time you use them. Start small, iterate often, and build toward the AI team that amplifies your best work.