Work becomes easy, when you have a structure in place and you need not keep amending/correcting what is done. The Pyramid Principle, Logic in writing and thinking is a book by Barbara Minto, which focuses on structured thinking, writing, and communication. It introduces a systematic approach to organizing ideas clearly and persuasively, making it especially useful for business professionals, consultants, and students as there are tips on how to write Letters, Newspaper Articles, Reports, Essays and Books. We put words in our documentations and presentations and think it's perfect. As we read we are unlikely to see the flows.
In The Pyramid Principle the author asks us to think and have an overall picture first, before we put down anything in words. The book is divided into two parts, the first six chapters covers logic in writing and the next for chapters cover logic in thinking.
In the first part on logic in writing, Barbara Minto drives home the need for a pyramid structure and how we can sort our information into Pyramid. Start with the Conclusion (Top-Down Approach) think from the bottom up. Instead of building up to the main point, present the core message first and then support it with reasoning.
The substructure within a pyramid should have vertical relationship, horizontal relationship and the introductory flow. This follows the SCQA method (Situation, Complication, Question, Answer).
We can use deductive (why) or inductive (how) reasoning to support the main point. Group Ideas into a Logical Pyramid Structure. Arrange supporting arguments into logical categories under the main conclusion.
Author suggests that we follow the MECE Principle (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive), ensure points do not overlap (mutually exclusive) and together cover all possible scenarios (collectively exhaustive) and we use Clear & Concise Language by avoid unnecessary complexity and jargon. We can use parallel structures for easy understanding and highlight with the use of Headings, numbering, indents and bullets.
In Part II on the logic in thinking, Barbara Minto covers questioning the order of a grouping. It could be time order, structural order or ranking order. Try to understand and answer, if there is a problem, where does the problem lie? and why does the problem exist? Use logic trees for understanding. Note down, how things are before, after and what are the changes. Summarise Action ideas and Situation ideas. Include Deduction, Induction and Abduction in the summary.
Question the summary statement. Draw inference from conclusions. Then put the thoughts into readable words by creating mage and copying the image in words. Overloading technical communications with Jargon's and employing a tortuous and cramped style is largely a matter of fashion, not of necessity. Dress your ideas in such a fashion that people find pleasure in the process of absorbing them. Do conceptual thinking in images. It will help retention too.
The Appendix discusses on how to solve problem in structureless situations.
In any reasoning process you always deal with three distinct entities:
- A Rule (a belief about the way things are structured)
- A Case (an observed fact that exist)
- A Result (Expected occurrence on applying the rule to the case)
An example given in the book in how to make a presentation:
The book has given me a new perspective into the Art of Writing.
To quote Professor William Minto, "In writing you are as a commander filing out his battalion through a narrow gap that allows only one man at a time to pass; and your reader, as he receives the troops, has to re-from and reconstruct them. No matter how large or how involved the subject, it can be communicated only in that way. You see, then, what an obligation we owe to him of order and arrangement - and why, apart from felicities and curiosities of diction, the old rhetorician laid such stress upon order and arrangement as duties we owe to those who honor us with their attention. "
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