What framework should you use to answer a system design interview question?

Begin by clarifying functional requirements, non-functional requirements, scale, constraints, and the most important quality attributes. Estimate workload where useful, define the major data and API flows, and propose the simplest architecture that can satisfy those requirements.

Then examine bottlenecks and failure modes: data model, caching, scaling, queues, consistency, resilience, security, observability, deployment, and disaster recovery. State trade-offs explicitly. A strong answer explains why each major decision fits the requirements rather than listing technologies.