MT - Business case - The Pyramid Principle - Logic in writing and thinking by Barbara Minto

产1 0-冲♀← ι电 :jGS 川习 THE MINTO PYRAMID LOGIC IN WRITING, THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING BARBARA MINTO I I D The Minto Py ramid Principle: Logic in W riting, Thinking and Problem Solving Copyriglzt @ 2003 by Barbara Minto AII rights resen'ed. This book may 1101 be reproduced or Iransmitted, in whole or in part, il1 any form or by an)' means , electronic or mechanical, including photocopying , recording or by any information storage and retrieval system , without written permissio l1 fro111 Ihe autho r. Published in the United Su附‘vρ'1 America by 儿1into International , In c. 19 Cadogan Place , Bell 3 Londoll SWIX 9SA , El1 gland Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 95-094799 ISBN 0-9601910-4-6 Dω igl1: \仨 ra Deutsch 险也』 "There is nothing so usefu/ as a good theory. KURT LEWIN PREFACE 1tl川1咐9川 cip 抖le" that talked about a new way of tackling the problen1 of unclear report writing , particularly in consulting reports. It said , in effect, that clear writing was easy to recognize because it had a clear pyramidal structure, while unclear writing always deviated from that structure. The ideas within the pyramid relate in a limited number of logical ways (up, down , and sideways), making it possible to define general rules about them. Thus, the key to clear writing is to structure your thinking into a pyramid and check it against the rules before you begin to write. These ideas were developed while 1 was working for McKinsey & Compan予 the international management consulting firm , first in Cleveland and then in London. McKinsey had hired me in 1963 as their first femalé consultant, selected from the group of eight pioneering women permitted to attend the Har 飞rard Business School that year. McKinsey rapidly concluded that 1 was hopeless with numbers, but a capable writer. Consequently, they moved me to London to work with Europeans who were faced with the task of writing reports in English. Interestingly, when 1 began researching material on report writing , 1 discovered that while there were an enormous number of books on how to write better sentences and paragraphs, there were no books on how to organize the thinking those sentences and paragraphs are meant to conve y. Any book that did touch on the subject said things like "Be logical" or "Have a logical outline." How in the world do you tell a logical outline from an illogical one, 1 wondered, and set myself the task to find ou t. What 1 discovered was the pyramid. The pyramid structure is applicable to any document in which your purpose is to present your thinking clearly. To demonstrate, here's a very simple example of a "before" and "after": Points ordered as they occur to the ω riter: John Collins telephoned to say that he can't make the meeting at 3:00. Hal Johnson says he doesn't mind making it later, or even tomorrow, but not before 10:30, and D0n Clifford's ~ecretary says that Clifford won't return from Frankfurt until tomorrow, late. The Conference Room is booked tomorrow, but free Thursday Thursday at 11:00 looks to be a good time. Is that OK for you? JC- not today HJ- tomorrow after 10:30 DC- not before Thursday 1 |阳1 not free tomorrow Is Thursday OK with you? Thursday Points ordered by a pyramid Could we reschedule today's meeting to Thursday at 11:00? This would be more convenient for Collins and Johnson, and would also permit Clifford to be presen t. It is also the only other time this week that the conference room is free. Reschedule today's meeting to Thursday at 11: 00 More convenient for JC and HJ Permits DC to attend Few people in 1967 bought this concept, but very good minds were available at McKinsey to tell me where it fell short and to help me to get it righ t. Today the Minto Pyramid Principle serves as the McKinsey Firm standard, and is acknowledged to be an essential part of the Firm's fabric. 1 left McKinsey in 1973 to teach the ideas more widel予 and have now taught them to perhaps 1α000 people throughout the world, both in consulting firms and in indi- ..... vidual companies. 1 have also published two previous editions of this book (in 1981 and 1987), and developed a video course (1 981) and a computer software program (1 985). And 1 wiU this year complete a new version of the video course. 1 am delighted to say that as a result of these activities the Minto Pyramid Principle has become the de facto standard in consulting , and the basic pyramid concept has been picked up and incorporated into courses taught in many other places. The continuing experience of teaching , and the recent work to develop the new videoF have of course brought npw in 只ights and allowed me to develop and expand various parts of the original concep t. 1 have also seen that the pyramid concept can serve a much wider function than simply helping to organize and present thinking ln w rItI ng. lt can extend back \vard to embrace the process for defining and analyzing problelTIS, and forward to guide the management of the entire writi ng process. Hence this new version of the book, which incorporates a11 of the insights and techniq1J e~ f()r getting flt one's thinking that 1 have worked out sin(' f' 19 盯Tt also contains new chapters on how to structure the definition and analysis of a problem, as well as how visually to present the pyramid on page and screen. The book is in four parts. ~I Part One (Logic in Writing) contains few changes. It both explains the Minto Pyramid Principle and shows you how to use it to build a basic pyramid. This section is a11 you need to read to be able to understand and apply the technique to simple documents. 何 Part Two (Logic in Thinking) tells you how to look critica11y at the detail of your thinking , to make sure that the points you make actua11y reflect the insights inherent in the ideas you have grouped together. It gives many examples, and emphasizes the importance to clarity of forcing yourself to go through this process of "Hard-Headed Thinking." ~l Part Three (Logic in Problem Solving) is c01l1pletely new. It is meant mainly for people who write consulting documents or who need to do analyses of complex problems and then present their conclusions to people who must take action based on them. It explains how to use a variety of frameworks to structure your analysis at various stages in the problem-solving process, so that the thinking can be in effect pre-organized to fit easily into a pyramid structure. 句 Part Four (Logic in Presentation) discusses techniques for making sure that the pyramid structure is not lost on the reader as you transfer your ideas from the pyramid, either to written prose or to slides in an oral presentation. There are also three appendices. The first deals with the differences between analytical and scientific problem solving, while the second gives examples of various common patterns employed in writing introductions. The final appendix presents a complete outline of the points made in the book, highlighting the major concepts and thinking techniques for easy recal l. Applying the Minto Pyramid Principle still requires considerable discipline. Nevertheless, by deliberately forcing yourse!f to think first and \vrite later in the manner suggested, you should be able quite dramatically to (a) cut down the time you normally need to produce a final draft, (b) in，二 I凶玩 its clarit 予 and (c) decrease its lcngth. The result should be cri泞I clear 飞A厅 itiRg inyecord ti?‘巳 Barbara 岛1into LO l1 do l1 1996 TABLE OF CONTENTS PART LOGIC IN WRITING PRE巳气CE INTRODUCTION TO 巳气 RTONE The Minto Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing pγHY A PYRAMID STRUCTURE? The Magical Number Seven 2 3 The Need to State the Logic 4 Sorting into Pyramids 2 Ordering from the Top Down 5 Thinking from the Bottom Up 8 THE SUBSTRUCTURES WITHIN THE PYRAMID 12 The 飞Tertical Relationship 13 17 18 The Horizontal Relationship The Introductory Flow 3 HOW TO BUILD A PYRAMID STRUCTURE The Top-Down Approach The Bottom-Up Approach Caveats for Beginners hι 21 22 26 31 4 5 FINE POINTS OF INTRODUCTIONS 34 The Story Form L叮 hya Story? Where Do You Start the Situation? What's a Complication? Why that Order? What About the Key Li ne? How Long a Story? Do 1 Neeà to Introduce the Key Li ne Points? Some Common Patterns Giving Direction Seeking Approval to Spend Money Ex plaining "How to" Choosing Among Alternatives Some Common Patterns - Consulting Letters of Proposal Progress Reviews 34 35 36 37 40 41 42 45 49 50 51 53 54 57 57 58 DEDUCTION AND INDUCTION: THE DIFFERENCE 60 Deductive Reasoning How it Works When to Use It Inductive Reasoning How it Works How it Differs 61 62 64 68 69 71