qwen3.8-27b on “A proposal to the chief executive”: worse with Minto on both measures

Structure 2 → 1 of 8 −1 Quality 9 → 8 of 10 −1

The judge on the output with Minto

It gives the fullest context and a literal question, but deliberately frames that question as “can it operate?” rather than “should we accept it?”

Mode write · case 01-big-chief · run v1.7.0-final

Structure of 8, 2 points per axis
Structure	Without Minto 2	With Minto 1	Change
Top	1	0	−1
Key-line composition	0	0
Levels	0	0
Order and kind	1	1

Quality of 10, 2 points per axis
Quality	Without Minto 9	With Minto 8	Change
Top	1	0	−1
Same-kind grouping	2	2
Explainable order	2	2
MECE	2	2
Visible, proportionate structure	2	2

Outputs and the judge’s words are quoted as written, in English.

Without Minto With Minto

Without Minto

control prompt · blind label out-02

No hard failures

It is a clean and complete process summary whose controlling idea remains feasibility rather than approval.

To: Robert Salton
From: John Jackson
Subject: Big Chief account 8306 — monthly electronic settlement

Big Chief account 8306's proposed electronic submission of delivery-ticket data and settlement through one prepaid monthly payment would work if the file contains the required data, the cheque total and file detail net to zero, and the file is processed through the national-accounts system.

File content
Any external account file must contain the parent number, outlet number, ticket number, ticket amount, and delivery date. If Big Chief cannot provide the parent and outlet numbers, we can supply them from the customer master file for inclusion in later submissions.
Submission and balancing
Big Chief will build an extraction program for its accounts-payable file and send Data Processing a file in the format accepted by our national-accounts cash-receipt system. Big Chief will also send its cheque, with a detailed listing, to the lockbox. We will balance the file under the prescribed procedure; the cheque total and file detail must net to zero.
Processing
Once balanced, the monthly file will run through the national-accounts system, match ticket numbers against statement history, and produce the relevant billing records.

With Minto

prompt with the skill · blind label out-11

No hard failures

It gives the fullest context and a literal question, but deliberately frames that question as “can it operate?” rather than “should we accept it?”

To: Robert Salton
From: John Jackson
Subject: Big Chief monthly-file settlement can operate if the file is complete, balanced, and processed

As a beverage supplier, we have drivers send delivery tickets to Finance; each ticket identifies the customer, outlet, delivery, amount, and date, and the tickets feed the national-accounts settlement process. Big Chief, a major multi-outlet customer, has asked to replace individual ticket settlement for account 8306 with a monthly computer file and one prepaid monthly payment, submitting delivery-ticket data electronically. Can the proposed settlement operate? It can operate if we ensure the file is complete, balance the file to zero, and process the balanced file.

Ensure the file is complete.
- Any external account file must contain the parent number, outlet number, ticket number, ticket amount, and delivery date.
- If Big Chief cannot provide the parent and outlet numbers, we can supply them from the customer master file for inclusion in later submissions.
Balance the file to zero.
- Big Chief will build an extraction program for its accounts-payable file.
- The resulting file will use the format accepted by our national-accounts cash-receipt system.
- Big Chief will send the file to Data Processing and send its cheque, with a detailed listing, to the lockbox.
- We will balance the file under the prescribed procedure; the cheque total and file detail must net to zero.
Process the balanced file.
- Once balanced, the monthly file will run through the national-accounts system.
- It will match ticket numbers against statement history and produce the relevant billing records.

The judge

Recurring defect	without	with Minto
Feasibility or implementation replaces the acceptance decisionthe skill has the rule; the model did not follow it · Core loop §1–2, reader question and provisional answer	present	present
Mechanics occupy the first level instead of grounded reasonsthe skill has the rule; the model did not follow it · Core loop §4, Groups	present	present
Literal reader question is absentthe skill has the rule; the model did not follow it · Core loop §1 and §3	present	absent
Situation and complication are not both visible before supportthe skill has no such rule · Core loop §3, SCQ intro	present	absent

Decisive questions

without Kind: mechanics; grounded elements: 3; top establishes feasibility but not acceptance; no inventions; field, format, routing, and balancing form the key line rather than supporting reasons; reader question absent.
with Minto Kind: mechanics; grounded elements: 3; top answers the narrower feasibility question rather than whether to accept; no inventions; mechanics form the key line; a literal but incorrectly framed reader question is present.

Judge’s check	without	with Minto
Answer first	yes	yes
First-level elements	3	3
First-level kind matches the gold	no	no
Invented facts	no	no
Source lost without a note	no	no
Mode respected	yes	yes
Reader’s question stated literally	no	yes
Order type named	no	no
SCQ introduction present	no	yes

How the test was built

qwen3.8-27b received the same task twice. The control prompt is one framing line and the task. The prompt with Minto is the same task preceded by the full text of the skill. The judge read both outputs among 16 under blind labels and did not know which one had the skill.

Prompt without Minto 2 147 B

You are working on a business document using the Minto Pyramid Principle.

<!-- Faithful paraphrase of Barbara Minto, The Minto Pyramid Principle
     (2010), Chapter 3, Exhibit 5 and the surrounding top-down analysis.
     The wording is original to this evaluation fixture. -->

# Fixture 01: Big Chief proposal

**Mode:** `write`
**Language:** `en`

## Context

The company supplies beverages. Drivers send delivery tickets to Finance; each
ticket identifies the customer, outlet, delivery, amount, and date. The tickets
feed the national-accounts settlement process.

Big Chief, a major multi-outlet customer, wants to replace individual ticket
settlement with a monthly computer file and one payment. Finance reviewed how
the proposed process would work and sent management the memo below.

## Before

```text
To: Robert Salton
From: John Jackson
Subject: Big Chief request

We reviewed Big Chief account 8306's request to submit delivery-ticket data
electronically and settle it through one prepaid monthly payment. Our findings
follow.

1. Any external account file must contain the parent number, outlet number,
   ticket number, ticket amount, and delivery date. If Big Chief cannot provide
   the first two identifiers, we can supply them from the customer master file
   for inclusion in later submissions.

2. Big Chief will build an extraction program for its accounts-payable file.
   The resulting file will use the format accepted by our national-accounts
   cash-receipt system. Big Chief will send the file to Data Processing and
   send its cheque, with a detailed listing, to the lockbox. We will balance
   the file under the prescribed procedure. The cheque total and file detail
   must net to zero.

3. Once balanced, the monthly file will run through the national-accounts
   system, match ticket numbers against statement history, and produce the
   relevant billing records.
```

## Task

Rewrite this as a short management memo using the Minto Pyramid Principle.
Do not invent benefits, savings, or operational facts that are absent from the
source.

Return only the result, with no explanation of how you produced it.

Prompt with Minto five parts, in order · 29 720 B

Below is a skill written as an instruction. Read it in full and apply it to the task at the end.
===== SKILL.md ===== SKILL.md at f4813ce 17 235 B
===== references/rules.md ===== references/rules.md at f4813ce 6 464 B
===== references/templates.md ===== references/templates.md at f4813ce 3 742 B
===== TASK ===== the whole case input
Return only the result, with no explanation of how you produced it.

Case input before.md

Fixture 01: Big Chief proposal

Mode: write
Language: en

Context

The company supplies beverages. Drivers send delivery tickets to Finance; each
ticket identifies the customer, outlet, delivery, amount, and date. The tickets
feed the national-accounts settlement process.

Big Chief, a major multi-outlet customer, wants to replace individual ticket
settlement with a monthly computer file and one payment. Finance reviewed how
the proposed process would work and sent management the memo below.

Before

To: Robert Salton
                From: John Jackson
                Subject: Big Chief request
                
                We reviewed Big Chief account 8306's request to submit delivery-ticket data
                electronically and settle it through one prepaid monthly payment. Our findings
                follow.
                
                1. Any external account file must contain the parent number, outlet number,
                   ticket number, ticket amount, and delivery date. If Big Chief cannot provide
                   the first two identifiers, we can supply them from the customer master file
                   for inclusion in later submissions.
                
                2. Big Chief will build an extraction program for its accounts-payable file.
                   The resulting file will use the format accepted by our national-accounts
                   cash-receipt system. Big Chief will send the file to Data Processing and
                   send its cheque, with a detailed listing, to the lockbox. We will balance
                   the file under the prescribed procedure. The cheque total and file detail
                   must net to zero.
                
                3. Once balanced, the monthly file will run through the national-accounts
                   system, match ticket numbers against statement history, and produce the
                   relevant billing records.

Task

Rewrite this as a short management memo using the Minto Pyramid Principle.
Do not invent benefits, savings, or operational facts that are absent from the
source.

The judge’s gold gold.md

Gold 01: Big Chief proposal

Source structure: Minto (2010), Chapter 3, Exhibits 4-6.

Expected structure

Element	Expected value
Reader question	Is Big Chief's proposal a good idea?
Top	Yes, the proposed process is workable and worth accepting, within the evidence available
Key-line kind	Reasons or reader benefits, not system mechanics
Order	Inductive reasons supporting one conclusion

The book illustrates three possible benefits: obtaining the required
information, increasing cash flow, and reducing clerical work. Only the first
is directly supported by this fixture. Literal reproduction of all three is
therefore not required and unsupported benefits count as inventions.

Strong outputs:

answer the management question before explaining the file mechanics;
use two to four same-kind reasons grounded in the supplied facts;
place field lists, file format, routing, balancing, and matching below those
reasons as evidence or implementation detail;
retain the literal reader question in the delivered memo.

Main defect in the source

The source explains how the proposed system would operate but never answers
whether management should accept it. A technically tidy list is still the wrong
key line if the reader is deciding whether to act.

Scoring notes

2 for key-line composition: every first-level point is a grounded benefit,
loss avoided, or reason for acceptance.
1: benefits and mechanics are mixed.
0: the first level is entirely fields, file handling, or balancing steps.

Do not reward unsupported claims about savings, speed, or cash flow.

Judge gpt-5.6-sol, effort high · skill from commit f4813ce · run v1.7.0-final