The Minto Pyramid

Do you know how to structure your docs to make it readable?

The Minto Pyramid Principle is very famous concept to organize docs, presentations and your own thoughts. I met it many times in different resources, so I decided to read the book as an initial source of truth.

Surprisingly, the book was difficult for me, mostly because of academical language and a lot of samples from economic and marketing area. It took me 4 months to finish it and 3 more months to prepare its overview 😃.

The idea is simple:
🔸 Put the main message at the top. It can be a key point, idea, or even a question.
🔸 Then add supporting arguments. Keep them consistent, arguments should of the same type and detail level.
🔸 On the next level add facts and details that back those arguments.
🔸 Each level should summarize what’s below it.
🔸 You can go through pyramid in both directions: from top to down (presentations, explanation) or vice versa (research).
🔸 Use either induction or deduction when moving between arguments, but don’t mix both.

The overall concept looks obvious. It even reminds me of a math logic course at the university.

But in reality I've seen a lot of unstructured, difficult-to-follow documents. And good structure is important not only for humans, but now it's even more important for AI agents. That’s where this book can help. It doesn't just teach how to write readable docs, it teaches you how to organize your thoughts and ideas so others can easily understand you.

#booknook #softskills #communications #documentation