A note before a meeting

Mode write · Create and rework text

Eight models on this case

Model	Structure, of 8	Quality, of 10
Claude Opus 5	4 → 6 +2	6 → 8 +2
Claude Sonnet 5	4 → 6 +2	6 → 8 +2
Claude Haiku 4.5	4 → 4 0	6 → 7 +1
Codex gpt-5.6-terra	4 → 5 +1	7 → 7 0
gpt-oss-120b	4 → 3 −1	5 → 3 −2
qwen3.6-35b-a3b	5 → 6 +1	7 → 9 +2
qwen3.6-fp8	5 → 5 0	7 → 7 0
qwen3.8-27b	4 → 4 0	7 → 6 −1

What the judge saw across all outputs

Stronger outputs put the reschedule proposal first, remain close to the source’s length, and subordinate scheduling facts to a compact rationale. Weaker outputs leave constraints flat, promote room availability beside attendee benefits, force extra branches, or turn the source’s tentative possibility into certainty.

What the judge asked of every output

How many first-level benefits appear? The gold has two.
Is room availability incorrectly used as a third benefit?
Is the reschedule request the first sentence?
Is the output no longer than the source?
Which excessive devices appear: headings, SCQ labels, table, separate key line, Mermaid, or change log?
Were attendee constraints omitted, demoted, or promoted?
Were any time, day, attendee, or fact invented?

Where the outputs fell short

Recurring defect	Skill section	Cause	Where it appeared
Constraints or time slots replace the two benefit-level reasons	Core loop §4, “Groups”	the skill has the rule; the model did not follow it	Without Minto · 5 Claude Opus 5, Claude Sonnet 5, Codex gpt-5.6-terra, gpt-oss-120b, qwen3.8-27bWith Minto · 3 Claude Haiku 4.5, qwen3.6-35b-a3b, qwen3.8-27b
Room availability is promoted to a peer branch instead of remaining support	Core loop §4 and §6, “Groups” and “MECE”	the skill has the rule; the model did not follow it	Without Minto · 8 Claude Opus 5, Claude Sonnet 5, Claude Haiku 4.5, Codex gpt-5.6-terra, gpt-oss-120b, qwen3.6-35b-a3b, qwen3.6-fp8, qwen3.8-27bWith Minto · 7 Claude Opus 5, Claude Sonnet 5, Claude Haiku 4.5, Codex gpt-5.6-terra, gpt-oss-120b, qwen3.6-fp8, qwen3.8-27b
A numerical grouping norm encourages unnecessary extra branches	Mode 3 “3–4 first-level groups” versus Limits “four honest groups beat three forced ones”	the rule is there but buried	Without Minto · 5 Claude Opus 5, Claude Sonnet 5, Codex gpt-5.6-terra, gpt-oss-120b, qwen3.8-27bWith Minto · 3 Claude Haiku 4.5, gpt-oss-120b, qwen3.8-27b
Tentative or bounded evidence becomes certain availability, feasibility, or priority	Mode 3, “Invent nothing”	the skill has the rule; the model did not follow it	Without Minto · 5 Claude Opus 5, Claude Haiku 4.5, gpt-oss-120b, qwen3.6-35b-a3b, qwen3.6-fp8With Minto · 7 Claude Opus 5, Claude Sonnet 5, Claude Haiku 4.5, Codex gpt-5.6-terra, gpt-oss-120b, qwen3.6-35b-a3b, qwen3.6-fp8
Structural apparatus is disproportionate to a short meeting note	Mode 3, “clean text” and plain-format rules	the skill has the rule; the model did not follow it	Without Minto · 1 gpt-oss-120bWith Minto · 2 gpt-oss-120b, qwen3.6-fp8
Collins and the reason the original slot fails disappear	Mode 3, “Keep every fact from the source”	the skill has the rule; the model did not follow it	Without Minto · 1 Claude Haiku 4.5With Minto · 0 —

How the test was built

Prompt without Minto 868 B

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

<!-- Faithful paraphrase of the short meeting example in the preface of
     Minto (2010). Original wording for this fixture. -->

# Fixture 04: meeting note

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

## Context

A meeting is booked for 3:00 today. You checked the attendees and the conference
room, and now need one colleague to approve a change.

## Before

```text
Collins cannot attend at 3:00. Johnson can meet later today or tomorrow, but
not before 10:30. Clifford will not return from Frankfurt until late tomorrow.
The conference room is occupied tomorrow but available on Thursday. Thursday
at 11:00 appears possible. Is that acceptable?
```

## Task

Rewrite this as one short note using the Minto Pyramid Principle.

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

Prompt with Minto five parts, in order · 28 441 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 04: meeting note

Mode: write
Language: en

Context

A meeting is booked for 3:00 today. You checked the attendees and the conference
room, and now need one colleague to approve a change.

Before

Collins cannot attend at 3:00. Johnson can meet later today or tomorrow, but
                not before 10:30. Clifford will not return from Frankfurt until late tomorrow.
                The conference room is occupied tomorrow but available on Thursday. Thursday
                at 11:00 appears possible. Is that acceptable?

Task

Rewrite this as one short note using the Minto Pyramid Principle.

The judge’s gold gold.md

Gold 04: meeting note

Source structure: Minto (2010), Preface.

Expected structure

Top: Request approval to move today's meeting to Thursday at 11:00.

Key line has exactly two reader benefits:

The time is more convenient for Collins and Johnson.
Clifford can attend.

The room's availability is a constraint, not a third reader benefit. Do not add
a third branch just to satisfy a numerical norm.

Proportionality

The result should remain a two-sentence note, no longer than the source. Section
headings, an SCQ template, tables, a separate key-line block, or a Mermaid
diagram are excessive. Omitting the detailed scheduling constraints is
acceptable when the answer and both benefits remain clear.

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

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