Shared Context

Not long ago, I was chatting with my friend Inma. She said: “Jorge viene a Madrid en julio” — Jorge is going to come to Madrid in July.

I paused for a second and asked, “Where are you?” Inma replied right away: “Ay, estoy en Alemania, Jorge va a Madrid en julio.” — I’m in Germany! Jorge is going to go to Madrid in July.

I kept thinking about that moment afterwards: Jorge in Japan, Inma in Germany. Then it clicked for me. What if we don’t frame it as “Jorge goes from Japan to Spain,” but as “Jorge moves from Asia to Europe, where Inma is”? If that’s the shared frame, then “Jorge is coming to Madrid” makes perfect sense.

It also made me think about work. I use AI tools a lot these days, and if I want useful results, I have to give them as much context as I can. But honestly, this isn’t just about tools. It’s true for people too: whether you’re trying to explain your view or understand someone else’s, you first need to make sure you’re standing in the same shared context — and that might be the hardest part of communication.