From Random AI Experiments to Strategic Clarity
Most AI implementations fail before they start — not because of bad technology, but because of unclear strategy.
The PAST Framework is a thinking framework for AI adoption that works at every level: from organizational strategy down to individual prompt engineering. It asks four questions that determine success or failure:
- Purpose — What specific outcome are you trying to achieve?
- Audience — Who does AI serve?
- Scope — What are the realistic boundaries?
- Tone — How should AI align with your culture and voice?
Walk into any organization today and you'll see the pattern: Marketing has their ChatGPT subscription. Sales discovered a different AI tool for lead scoring. Customer service is experimenting with chatbots. HR tests resume screening.
Each department discovered AI independently, chose different tools, measures different metrics — and none of them are talking to each other.
The question everyone asks: "How can we use AI?"
The question they should ask: "What business outcomes do we need to achieve?"
This shift — from technology-first to outcome-first thinking — is where PAST begins.
- Business professionals starting with AI and wanting strategic clarity before random experimentation
- Consultants designing AI strategies for clients who need a proven framework
- Team leaders defining AI direction without getting lost in tool comparisons
- Anyone writing prompts who wants systematically better results
- Solopreneurs deciding which AI tools deserve investment of time and money
| Element | Question | What It Prevents |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | What specific outcome do we need? | Vague goals, technology-first thinking, solution-seeking-problem |
| Audience | Who uses this and who receives outputs? | Designing for buyers not users, ignoring resistors |
| Scope | What's included and what's Phase 2? | Scope creep, trying to solve everything at once |
| Tone | How should AI align with culture? | Generic AI slop, cultural mismatch, adoption failure |
The same four questions guide billion-dollar AI implementations and daily prompt writing:
- Organizational Strategy: Enterprise AI implementation and governance
- Team Workflows: Department-specific process optimization
- Individual Productivity: Personal workflow enhancement
- Prompt Engineering: Creating effective AI interactions
The complete field guide with worksheets, templates, examples, and enhancement checklists:
The PAST Framework Field Guide
PAST tells you WHAT and WHY. Strategic clarity about what you're trying to achieve.
SHAPE tells you HOW and WHEN. Systematic execution from assessment through evaluation.
Together they form a complete system from strategy to implementation.
Before any AI initiative, complete this statement:
"Success means [specific measurable outcome] which will [business impact] by [timeline] as measured by [metric]."
If any part is blank or "TBD", you're not ready to evaluate tools. Return to purpose definition.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, including commercial
Under the following terms:
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Created by Jim Christian — AI implementation specialist, framework creator, and author of Signal Over Noise.
Contributions are welcome. If you've applied PAST in your organization and have insights to share, please open an issue or pull request.