The Pyramid Principle: structuring a consulting-style slide deck

Many slide decks are built in the order the work was done: background, method, data, more data, and finally a conclusion on the last slide. The reader has to sit through everything to find out what it means. The Pyramid Principle turns that order round.

The method comes from Barbara Minto, who joined McKinsey in 1963 and developed it while training consultants to write clearly. Her book, The Minto Pyramid Principle, first appeared in the 1980s and is still used across the consulting firms. Her core idea is simple: a reader grasps your thinking most easily when your ideas are arranged as a pyramid under a single point.

The shape of the pyramid

• The top is one main point: your answer, recommendation or conclusion.
• The middle holds a small number of key lines, usually three or four, that support the top. They answer the question the top raises, such as “why?” or “how?”.
• The base holds the evidence for each key line: data, analysis and examples.

Every idea in the pyramid summarises the ideas grouped below it. That is what makes the structure easy to follow.

MECE groups

Minto also gave consulting the term MECE: mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive. The points in each group should not overlap, and together they should cover everything relevant to the point above. If two reasons are really the same reason in different words, merge them. If a reader can immediately think of a reason you missed, the group is not exhaustive.

Opening with situation, complication, question

The answer needs a short set-up so the reader knows why it matters. Minto’s pattern is:

1. Situation: something the reader already knows and agrees with.
2. Complication: what has changed or gone wrong.
3. Question: the question the complication raises in the reader’s mind.

The answer then follows, at the top of the pyramid.

Turning the pyramid into a deck

Here is how the structure maps onto slides. The example is invented for illustration.

Write action titles

The single biggest change most decks need is in the slide titles. A topic label such as “Complaints analysis” tells the reader what the slide is about. An action title such as “Late deliveries drive most complaints” tells them what to conclude. Good action titles:

• are full sentences with a verb;
• fit on one or two lines;
• state one point that the body of the slide proves;
• use the same words the reader would use to repeat the point to a colleague.

The title test

Copy every slide title, in order, into a plain document and read it as a paragraph. If the paragraph tells the whole story, the deck works. If it reads as a list of topics, or if one title does not follow from the one before, fix the structure before touching the design. Consultants sometimes call this checking the horizontal logic of the deck.

Then check each slide on its own

The body of each slide should prove its title and nothing else. If a chart shows three things, either the title should name the one that matters or the slide should be split. Remove anything that does not support the title, and move detail to an appendix.

When to bend the rule

Putting the answer first works for most business readers, who want the conclusion and will read on if they need the reasons. With an audience that is likely to resist the answer, you may spend longer on the situation and complication first, so they reach the conclusion with you. The pyramid still holds; you are only choosing how quickly to climb it.

A short routine

1. Write the answer as one sentence on paper.
2. List the key lines and check they are MECE.
3. Draft the situation, complication and question.
4. Write every slide title before building any slide.
5. Run the title test, then build the bodies.