My Framework

When someone called me into a meeting—especially one with zero preparation—I used to panic. Not anymore. After years of consulting and being thrown into this situation again and again, I finally decided to create my own framework.

A framework, to me, is like a personal design pattern — something you can fall back on every single time. Mine is simple. I call it PPT:

People, Process, Tools

So when I walk into a meeting unprepared, the first thing I do is take a plain sheet of paper, fold it into three (a little tri-fold), and write the column headings across the top: People, Process, Tools.

And then I follow the order.

People #

I always start with people. For anyone, this is the most natural entry point — we love talking about ourselves and about others. So my first questions revolve around who does what, where the team is based, how they work together. These are easy ice breakers and genuine conversation starters.

Process #

Once the room warms up, I move to process. This is where I try to understand the actual problem they’re trying to solve. Can they articulate it? What are the bottlenecks? How does the work really flow?
This layer sits right on top of people — because when you talk about process, you automatically reveal how people think, where the gaps are, and who the key stakeholders are.

Tools #

Finally, I talk about tools. This is where the quiet ones—the introverts, usually the developers—start speaking up. The implementation experts who often sit silently now step into the conversation.
And that completes the circle. By the time we finish the Tools column, we’ve gone one full round through People, Process, and Tools — and the meeting suddenly makes sense.