The pyramid structure almost magically forces you to present information only as the reader needs it. Even if they do think exactly as you do, not stating your logic upfront makes the task of listening more difficult. Indeed, people will not infrequently find that they cannot see any relationship at all. However, he will rarely use the same interpretation on your grouping as you do. The listener will automatically try to infer a logic order or structure whenever you present him your ideas. Ideas in each grouping must always be logically ordered.Ideas in each grouping must always be of the same kind of idea.Ideas at any level in the pyramid must always be summaries of the ideas grouped below them.Fortunately we can check if the pyramid grouping is correct by the following rules: If you have made the pyramid structure correctly your major point will be explained and defended by the in ever greater detail. Exactly the same thinking holds true in bringing together sections to form a document and the single idea of the document will be expressed in the executive summary.
These paragraphs and no others are needed to express the single idea of the section, which again will be the summary of the ideas in the paragraphs below. On this level of abstraction you again combine a number of paragraphs to form a section. Stating this summary sentence raises you to the next level of abstraction. All of your sentences are needed to express a single idea of the paragraph, which is effectively a summary of the paragraph. When you group together a number of sentences into a paragraph, you do so, because the sentences have a logical relationship. He will invariably find the job easier if your ideas come to him as a pyramid. As the listener has to take in your story line by line, he must take each of these, digest them, relate them and hold them together. This tendency of the mind is nicely illustrated by the Greeks who grouped stars into figures instead of pinpoints of lights. The mind will automatically impose order on everything around it.
Whenever we encounter a number of items the mind begins to group them into logical categories so they can be retained. Miller describes in his treatise “The magical number seven, plus or minus two” a pattern governing the process of our mind.
The pyramid structure A person that seeks to learn your thinking about a particular subject faces a complex task. The Pyramid Principle by Barbara Minto (The logic of writing)
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