Developed by Barbara Minto at McKinsey (The Pyramid Principle, 1978 edition).
Opens a document or argument with four moves, an accepted situation, the complication that disturbs it, the question that raises, and the answer, stated up front.
When to reach for it
When writing for a busy, senior audience, such as a board memo or a recommendation, that wants the answer first and the reasoning after.
How it runs
- Identify what the audience already accepts.
- State that situation in a sentence they would not dispute.
- State the complication: what changed and why it matters.
- Name the question the complication forces.
- Give the answer directly, then support it below.
- Check that each link follows from the one before.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking, Minto International, revised second edition; the first edition is undated in library catalogs, 1978