The Minto Pyramid Principle

The Minto Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing, Thinking, & Problem Solving (Hardcover)
by Barbara Minto

 

 

STRUCTURED THINKING: THE PYRAMID PRINCIPLE  reviewed by  Dave Pollard.   Most of us spend much of our lives in meetings and reading. I wish more of the people that drone on and on in unfocused Powerpoint presentations, or write long unfathomable treatises, would learn to apply some discipline to their oral and written communications. Barbara Minto's Pyramid Principle approach to structured thinking is one excellent methodology that could help. The core of Structured Thinking is to group ideas in a presenter's inductive or deductive thought process into small clusters that support the main thesis in increasing detail (granularity). The chart above shows this graphically. The supporting argument in green is inductive: Each of the elements in row two of the pyramid answers a question (e.g. why, how, how do you know) about the idea above it. The supporting argument in red is deductive: Each of the elements leads logically to the next. The best way to make any point or argument, says Barbara, is to structure the thinking that supports it in this way. Let's look at an example. Suppose your thesis is John Kerry is more likely to be able to defeat George Bush in 2004 than Howard Dean. Your three supporting arguments (row two of the diagram above) might be: Because of his distinguished military service, he's better able to beat Bush in the only area where Bush currently has a popularity edge on the Democrats: defense, security and foreign policy He's more likely to attract voters in the key demographics that are likely to decide the election His policy positions, while very close to Dean's, are slightly closer to mainstream public opinion on several key matters The deductive argument for the second bullet above might be: The election outcome will be determined by whether disenchanted voters vote at all, independent voters hold their noses and vote for one of the two major party candidates, and how swing voters decide to vote at the last minute Polls indicate that Kerry has greater appeal than Dean to independent and swing voters Bush will try to use the 2004 anniversary of 9/11 to appeal emotionally to swing voters, and Kerry is better able to parry that tactic because his method of dealing with voter fear is emotionally-based (but positive, rather than Bush's negative), while Dean's is, while equally defensible, intellectually-based. Now the presenter needs to support each of these six arguments with further inductive and deductive examples and arguments. (Please note, I have no idea whether the above arguments are valid or not, I'm just posing them as an example. As long as someone beats Bush I'll be happy). The presentation or written thesis continues in this manner, strengthening support for each of the preceding arguments and hence for the main thesis. The wrap-around for this pyramid includes the introduction and the closing, both of which have their own structure. The introduction (ideally presented as a story) leads to the opening statement of the thesis and consists of: (a) a factual summary of the current situation, (b) a complicating factor or uncertainty that the audience should care about, and (c) the explicit or implied question that this factor or uncertainty raises in the audience's mind, and which your thesis answers. The closing consists of: (a) a restatement of the thesis and the key (second pyramid row) supporting arguments, (b) a reminder of why it's important and what's at stake, and (c) a 'who needs to do what by when' action plan of next steps. The first paragraph of this post is an example of such an introduction, and the last paragraph is an example of such a conclusion. Not great examples, I confess: I need to work on this too. This discipline has the additional benefit of supporting the arguments in a written research report in a logical, consistent manner, so that if you find an error in the research, or disagree with one of the arguments, it does not necessarily undermine the entire thesis of the research, and it can be rectified without having to tear apart the whole paper. This brief summary does not do justice to Barbara's excellent methodology, and if you like what you've read I'd encourage you to take a look at her book or (see link above) consider having your company purchase her course. In business, in our writing, and in making persuasive arguments, we need to apply more structure and discipline to what we say and write. Otherwise we'll continue to waste much of our lives unnecessarily in meetings, and writing and reading inarticulate, disorganized, overlong essays and reports. The Pyramid Principle can help. I'd like to hear from readers who have used it, or other techniques, and what they think of them.