Past, Present, Future: how to tell the story of a change
By Rita Okonkwo · The Craft
Questions about progress are hard to answer in order, because everything feels connected. "Where is your team heading?" pulls in last year's reorganisation, this quarter's numbers and next year's plan all at once, and the answer comes out as a tangle.
Past, Present, Future untangles it by time. Where it started, where it stands now, where it goes next. Listeners follow time without effort, so the structure disappears and only the story is left.
Past, Present, Future, one part at a time
Question: Where is your team heading this year?
- Past (Where it started): Eighteen months ago, we were three people answering support emails from a shared inbox.
- Present (Where it is now): Today we are nine, we reply within four hours, and half our questions are answered by a help centre before anyone writes in.
- Future (Where it's going): This year I want us to move from answering problems to preventing them, by sitting in on product planning every month.
The three parts
1. Past: where it started
A starting point, stated so that it can be compared with today. "Three people and a shared inbox" is a picture; "we were a small team back then" is not. Pick the one or two details that will show the change most clearly once you get to the Present.
The trap is nostalgia: the Past is the easiest part to talk about and the least useful to the listener. Keep it to a sentence or two.
2. Present: where it is now
Where things stand today, using the same measures you used for the Past, so the distance is obvious. Three people then, nine now. A shared inbox then, four-hour replies now. The contrast is what gives the answer its sense of movement.
3. Future: where it's going
The next step, as specifically as you can say it. The Future is what the question is usually really about, so give it the most weight and end on it. A direction with a concrete first action ("sitting in on product planning every month") is far stronger than an aspiration ("keep growing").
Why the measures should match
The whole structure rests on comparison. If the Past is about team size and the Present is about customer satisfaction, the listener cannot see how far you have come, only two unrelated facts. Carry the same one or two measures through all three parts where you can, and the change tells itself.
An answer, taken apart
Past. Eighteen months ago, we were three people answering support emails from a shared inbox.
Present. Today we are nine, we reply within four hours, and half our questions are answered by a help centre before anyone writes in.
Future. This year I want us to move from answering problems to preventing them, by sitting in on product planning every month.
Size and speed carry from the Past into the Present; the Future then changes the question from "how fast do we answer" to "how many problems reach us at all".
Where it works, and where it doesn't
It is the natural shape for strategy updates, "tell me about yourself" in an interview (where you have been, what you do now, why this role is next), project retrospectives, and any talk about a trend.
It is weak for arguments: time order explains a change but does not justify a decision. And if the change was a single turning point, Before / After puts the spotlight on what caused it.
How the Coach listens for it
The Coach checks a take for a Past, a Present and a Future. The usual miss is a take that spends most of its time in the Past and gives the Future one rushed sentence at the end.
Practise it
Practise Past, Present, Future in the Coach. Lock the technique and spin; it works surprisingly well even on topics that do not look like stories of change.