The Pyramid Principle

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I left the meeting and I felt terrible - I knew I could do better

I had just walked out of the room from a meeting with the folks that ran community integrity at Facebook. I had really boched an answer that was likely to make my life harder later. As I left the room, a very senior engineer, who is a legend at the company, took me to one side and said quite plainly: just answer the question.

I knew this - whether it’s when you are pitching an investor or answering a question from a report - first - answer the question. But, I slipped.

The Pyramid principle

The pyramid principle is simple - and it applies wether you are writing a presentation or answring a question in a meeting. It makes your audience’s life easier by getting the highest order bit out first. A whole book has been written about it, but I use the following steps:

  1. Answer the questions first. There should be a single and clear idea at the root of your communication.
    • This can encourage you to frame communication as a question to be asked and an answer to be found
  2. Detail important assumptions implicit in the answer. There are likely premises you are combining which necessarily lead to your conclusion. List them now, clearly and without any evidence.
  3. Provide evidence and clarity for any premises that are used to lead to your conclusion.

Like the rhetorical triangle, I don’t go around repeating these steps in my head. Quite often though, and certainly in high impact situation, I literally think about these three steps. In written communications that is much easier.

Bonus: if your answer was more than 30-60 seconds, restate your answer in an even more succint form (1)

Note: your answer can always be I don’t know, this is especially good when it’s still followed by (2) and (3), which lead you to not know.

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