Future or not

Question

Note that in French, if you're using après + [verbe], we consider that this action always takes place in the past of when you're speaking.

Interesting. So why are there examples given wherein both actions take place in the future? Such as:

Après avoir fini ma dissertation, je commencerai mes révisions.After finishing my essay, I will start studying for my exam.

Accepted Answer

Après avoir fini ma dissertation, je commencerai mes révisions.
The part of finishing the essay comes before studying for the exam; it lies in the past from that point of view. But, strictly speaking, you could say this sentence today and talk about what you'll be doing tomorrow.

Answer

I think the lesson needs to be clarified here. Probably it just means what Chris said, but somehow it needs to imply the following:

Therefore, though you can say "after doing that" in English, you can NEVER say "après faire ça" in French!

Perhaps it's just saying that you have to be more explicit in French that one precedes the other in time. Obviously, in English we also consider that it happens in the past of the action that comes "after", we just don't feel the need to use a different tense to underline it.