Stats for nerds
3recommend
7mentions
5people
2011–2024years
57% recommend43% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- The Minto Pyramid Principle is what you're looking for - https://www.amazon.com/NEW-Pyramid-Principle-Writing-Thinkin.... A timeless book on how to structure writing. Once you understand it, you'll start to notice applications of the book out in the wild. You'll also start to loathe writing that isn't structured as such because it's needlessly tedious and more difficult to understand.
The Minto Pyramid Principle is heavily used and recommended within Amazon, a company famous for their culture of written narratives.
- Exactly this. I was working with the managing director of a large-cap (> $2B market cap) pharmaceutical consulting company who was able to explain really complicated, interconnected topics with ease, in a way that was really easy for others to understand. He was like a guide on a metaphorical hike, you were with him every step of the way no matter how many levels you went down the rabbit hole.
Through his communication, he had an uncanny ability to persuade. I mean, he laid everything out in an easy to understand way, and you either agreed or disagreed. It’s easy to agree when a person has seemingly answered all your questions and concerns without you even asking.
One day in his office, I asked him, how did you become so good at communicating really complex topics? He sat back, thought for a beat, and then jumped up towards his book case. “This!” He handed me his copy of the Minto Pyramid Principle scribbled with notes in the margin and all.
Needless to say, after reading that book, I was able to see immediately how those principles applied to him.
Of course it takes lots and lots of practice even after you understand the concepts. But the Minto Pyramid Principle comes highly recommended!
- You should read the book by Barbara Minto named "The Minto Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing, Thinking and Problem Solving." See http://www.barbaraminto.com/textbook.html
- The Minto Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing, Thinking, & Problem Solving by Barbara Minto (http://www.amazon.com/Pyramid-Principle-Writing-Thinking-Pro...)
Some Mental Models are available here for free :
http://www.focusinvestor.com/FocusSeriesPart3.pdf
http://www.focusinvestor.com/MungerModels.pdf
For systems :
Lean Thinking by James Womack
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Some thought provoking personal effectiveness titles :
The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz (http://www.amazon.com/Four-Agreements-Practical-Personal-Fre...)
The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz (http://www.amazon.com/Paradox-Choice-Why-More-Less/dp/006000...)
The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
- The Minto Pyramid Principle (MPP) offers an analogous, perhaps more accessible, process to problem solving similar to Andrew’s description.
You use a problem solving process built on structured analysis by first defining the problem in terms of an Undesired Result (R1), Desired Result (R2) — the S and S’ in Andrew’s process. Then, you determine the Starting Point in terms of the logical structures that generate your R1; these structures can be a sequence of cause-effect, a structural decomposition (e.g. of organization, geography, etc.), a classification, or some combination of the three. From this structure you can hypothesize experiments to confirm/disconfirm where the causes are. With these causes in hand, you can generate possible solutions or corrective actions. Finally, you’d evaluate your alternatives and arrive at your solution to move from R1->R2.
MPP’s problem solving process has the additional advantage of structuring your actions/results in a way that makes writing a document or presentation simple and straightforward, to convince others for example.
Check out the book if you’re interested in improving your problem solving and analysis skills.
- When I read your description I immediately thought of the Minto Pyramid principle. Your tool is like a technical way of solving the same problem :)
