The Pyramid Principle Buchzusammenfassung - das Wichtigste aus The Pyramid Principle

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Zusammenfassung von The Pyramid Principle

Name: The Pyramid Principle
Rating: 4.3 (166 reviews)
Author: Barbara Minto

Barbara Minto

Logic in Writing and Thinking

4.3 (166 Bewertungen)

18 Min.

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The Pyramid Principle
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To assist the reader, organize your thinking into a pyramid shape before starting to write.

When preparing a document, most people have a pretty good idea of what they intend to write about but no specific plan for what to say or how to phrase it. Usually, they simply begin writing, hoping the structure will emerge on its own from their stream of consciousness. This results in a jumbled narrative, leaving the reader to sort out the mess.

The mind prefers order to disorder, and even imposes imagined order on random data it encounters. Consider for instance the ancient Greeks, who imagined animal shapes in the stars rather than seeing them as mere random dots.

Similarly, it has been shown that when reading, people automatically attempt to organize information in any written document into a certain form, namely a top-down pyramid shape, where conclusions are supported by justifications and arguments, much like a pyramid is supported by its cornerstones.

It is easiest for a reader to digest information if it comes presorted into a logical pyramid shape.

Consider the following statements: “The seats were cold. I almost got into a fight. Italy didn’t play well. That really was an awful football match.” This “story” is poorly structured, since the actual main statement is withheld until the very end.

A top-down pyramid structure means that the document first introduces a summary statement and then the reasoning behind it. The above narrative would have been much easier to understand if structured in such a way: “That really was an awful football match: the seats were cold, I almost got into a fight and Italy did not play well.”

To assist the reader, organize your thinking into a pyramid shape before starting to write.

Build your pyramid: group similar ideas together and then summarize each group with one statement.

When constructing a pyramid, follow the bottom-up approach: First, list all the points you want to make, clustering together those that argue toward a similar conclusion. Then summarize each group with a single statement one level above the group. Each summary statement is like the tip of a miniature pyramid.

Repeat the process on the next level, and the next and so on. Eventually, you are left with one summary statement that crystallizes the key message of the entire document. Your pyramid is ready.

Justifying statements: use deduction to derive conclusions from chains of premises.

Any statement you make within your pyramid structure must raise a question in the reader’s mind, which you then answer on the level below. One way this answer can be formulated is through deductive reasoning.

Deduction is a classic logical process where you draw conclusions from premises. For example, from the premises “All men are mortal” and “Goliath is a man,” you can draw the conclusion, “Goliath is mortal.” You could then summarize the entire deduction process on the level above with the statement, “Since Goliath is a man, he is mortal.”

Justifying statements: use induction to derive conclusions from groups of similar items.

If a statement in your pyramid cannot be supported with deduction then a more creative form of reasoning must be used: induction.

Induction means drawing a conclusion from a set of ideas that are similar in some way; e.g. “Reasons for…” or “Parts of…”

To formulate recommendations, approach problems methodically and visualize them using logic trees.

Business writing often involves giving recommendations on how to solve a problem. Usually, the solution is not self-evident (otherwise the problem would have been solved already). To find your recommendations, you can apply a straightforward problem-solving process.

First, you identify the problem in clear, measurable terms; e.g., “The factory is losing three hours of operating time each day; how can we avoid this?” Next, you find out exactly where the problem is; e.g., “The problem is not the people or the raw material but the machines; they break down every day.” Third, you dig deeper into the problem to find out why it exists; e.g., “The maintenance workers receive insufficient training.” This allows you to identify possible courses of action to solve the problem; e.g., “Make supervisors responsible for training or purchase training externally.”

Structure recommendations around the effect they are meant to cause.

If you have discovered the solution to your reader’s problem, it is now your job to convince her to take action. So how do you structure your recommendations as convincingly as possible?

Essentially, when giving a recommendation, you make an action statement that describes the actions aimed at achieving a desired effect. This being the case, you should group your actions around the effect you are aiming for and describe the effect so tangibly that you will later know whether or not it has been achieved.

Use the introduction to tell the reader your key points within 30 seconds of reading.

Every document should begin with a brief introduction that serves two purposes: to incite the reader’s interest in the document, and to set the stage for the problem to be solved.

The easiest way to pique your reader’s interest and help her concentrate on your document is to put the introduction in story-form. You begin by describing the initial situation, after which you introduce a complication and finally offer a resolution.

Use headings and formatting to show your pyramid structure in the text.

To guide the reader through your pyramid hierarchy, you need a way of demonstrating the structure on paper.

The most popular method is to use headings to indicate the various levels and groupings of ideas. Use increasingly indented headings to show you are moving toward the lower levels of the pyramid. Government offices and large companies will even add decimal numbers (1, 1.1, 1.1.1) to further emphasize the structure.

Use clear transitions between groups of arguments to keep the reader in the loop.

Even the most logically thought-out pyramid structure is of little use unless the reader can keep up with it.

It is easy to lose the reader when moving between the various sections and subsections of the pyramid, so you should let her know when you are transitioning. One way to do this is to reference backward at the beginning of a new section.

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Worum geht es in The Pyramid Principle?

Never has clear, convincing communication been as important as in today’s information-cluttered environment. The Pyramid Principle (1978) explains in detail how written documents and presentations can be logically structured, and the methods described in the book are used by almost every major management consultancy on the planet.

Wer The Pyramid Principle lesen sollte

Professionals whose work involves preparing documents, presentations or written communications
Anyone who wants to be more persuasive in their written communications
Anyone who wants to learn about effective tools for problem-solving and structuring presentations

Über den Autor

Barbara Minto is a former McKinsey & Co. consultant who now focuses on teaching the Pyramid Principle to some of the world’s largest corporations and government organizations.

As a consultant at McKinsey & Co, Minto realized that while most people could get the language of written documents right, many struggled with the clarity of the actual thinking behind them. She developed the Pyramid Principle to teach the foundations required for clear writing.

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