The Pyramid Principle by Barbara Minto (Logic of Writing)
we can check if the pyramid grouping is correct by the following rules:
• Ideas at any level in the pyramid must always be summaries of the ideas grouped below them
• Ideas in each grouping must always be of the same kind of idea
• Ideas in each grouping must always be logically ordered
A lot of good advice in this small summary. Here is another suggestion how to divide a whole into parts.
When you divide a whole into parts, you must make sure the pieces you produce are
• mutually exclusive of each other and
• collectively exhaustive in terms of the whole.
• ruthlessly limited all parts to the underlying logic of the effect or category.
I was listening to a podcast where they were talking about the ability to present information well – in writing. The reader should have the choice of consuming the written information at multiple levels – from very high to very low. Pyramid principle seems to teach how to do that well.
Here is a link to a good presentation of Pyramid Principle.
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