Claude Opus 5 on “The role of the board”: better with Minto on both measures

Structure 1 → 4 of 8 +3 Quality 7 → 8 of 10 +1

The judge on the output with Minto

It provides the strongest supporting hierarchy and action phrasing, but wrongly promotes transition and introduces unsupported claims about meetings and intent.

Mode write · case 05-role-of-board · run v1.7.0-final

Structure of 8, 2 points per axis
Structure	Without Minto 1	With Minto 4	Change
Top	1	1
Key-line composition	0	1	+1
Levels	0	1	+1
Order and kind	0	1	+1

Quality of 10, 2 points per axis
Quality	Without Minto 7	With Minto 8	Change
Top	1	1
Same-kind grouping	2	2
Explainable order	1	2	+1
MECE	1	1
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-05

invented_facts
more_than_four_first_level
quality after the rubric’s penalty 4/10

It presents the source faithfully as five questions, but neither converts them into actions nor avoids unsupported quantification.

The October reorganization gave divisional managers full authority for day-to-day operations, leaving the Board responsible for policy and planning. In practice, however, the Board has for years spent most of its time on short-term operational problems. It has not yet reshaped itself for the role it now holds.

Before the Board can concentrate on policy and planning, it must settle five questions about its own structure and working methods:

What should the Board's composition and optimum size be?
What are the respective roles and responsibilities of the Board and the Executive Committee, and how should the two relate to each other?
How can an outside director be made an effective participant?
What principles should govern the selection of directors and the length of their tenure?
By what route should the Board move from the present arrangement to the one it decides it wants?

With Minto

prompt with the skill · blind label out-13

invented_facts
quality after the rubric’s penalty 7/10

It provides the strongest supporting hierarchy and action phrasing, but wrongly promotes transition and introduces unsupported claims about meetings and intent.

Since October, divisional managers have held full authority for day-to-day operations, and policy and planning have been left to the Board alone. Yet the Board continues to spend its meetings on short-term operating problems, as it has for years. It cannot become the policy and planning body the reorganization intended until it settles what it is now for.

The Board should redefine its own role, and doing so requires decisions in three areas.

1. Divide the work between the Board and the Executive Committee.

Fix the broad role of each body and the responsibilities that follow from it.
Fix the relationship between them, so that operating problems reach the Executive Committee rather than the Board.

2. Compose the Board for that role.

Set its membership and its optimum size.
Adopt principles for selecting directors and for setting their tenure.
Establish how an outside director is made an effective participant rather than a nominal one.

3. Choose the route from the present arrangement to the intended one.

Weigh the alternative ways of moving from today's Board and Executive Committee arrangement to the one decided above.

The judge

Recurring defect	without	with Minto
Original agenda topics remain at the first level instead of becoming support for actionsthe skill has the rule; the model did not follow it · Core loop §4, Groups	present	absent
“Alternative ways to get there” remains a substantive branchthe skill has the rule; the model did not follow it · Core loop §6, MECE	present	present
The required action to formalize Board operation through policies and procedures is absentthe skill has no such rule · Core loop §4, deriving actions from source mechanics	present	present
The answer does not appear in the first sentencethe rule is there but buried · Core loop §3 and Mode 3 answer-first rendering	present	present
The ordering principle is never namedthe rule is there but buried · Core loop §5 versus Mode 3 delivery guidance	present	present

Decisive questions

First-level kind
without topics/reasons
with Minto actions
Source topics unchanged at first level
without 5
with Minto 1
Transition branch?
without Yes
with Minto Yes
Purpose gone?
without Yes
with Minto Yes
Top answers required change?
without No
with Minto Yes, but incompletely
SCQ contradicts context?
without No
with Minto No
All source topics retained?
without Yes
with Minto Yes
Invented facts
without “Most of its time”
with Minto “Spend its meetings” and the claimed reorganization intention

Judge’s check	without	with Minto
Answer first	no	no
First-level elements	5	3
First-level kind matches the gold	no	yes
Invented facts	yes	yes
Source lost without a note	no	no
Mode respected	yes	yes
Reader’s question stated literally	yes	no
Order type named	no	no
SCQ introduction present	yes	yes

How the test was built

Claude Opus 5 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 1 403 B

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

<!-- Faithful paraphrase of Minto (2010), Chapter 2, the board-role
     introduction. Original wording for this fixture. -->

# Fixture 05: role of the board

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

## Context

In October, a reorganization gave divisional managers full authority for
day-to-day operations. Policy and planning remain the Board's responsibility.
The Board has nevertheless spent years dealing with short-term operational
problems.

Open questions include Board size and membership, the division of work between
the Board and Executive Committee, effective participation by outside members,
and selection and tenure.

## Before

```text
The purpose of this memorandum is to collect ideas for discussion about:

1. Board composition and optimum size.
2. The broad roles of the Board and Executive Committee, the responsibilities
   of each, and their relationship.
3. How to make an outside director an effective participant.
4. Principles for selecting directors and setting their tenure.
5. Alternative ways to move from the present Board and Executive Committee
   arrangement to the desired one.
```

## Task

Rewrite the opening using the Minto Pyramid Principle. Return the introduction
and the points it sets out, not the full memorandum.

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

Prompt with Minto five parts, in order · 28 976 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 05: role of the board

Mode: write
Language: en

Context

In October, a reorganization gave divisional managers full authority for
day-to-day operations. Policy and planning remain the Board's responsibility.
The Board has nevertheless spent years dealing with short-term operational
problems.

Open questions include Board size and membership, the division of work between
the Board and Executive Committee, effective participation by outside members,
and selection and tenure.

Before

The purpose of this memorandum is to collect ideas for discussion about:
                
                1. Board composition and optimum size.
                2. The broad roles of the Board and Executive Committee, the responsibilities
                   of each, and their relationship.
                3. How to make an outside director an effective participant.
                4. Principles for selecting directors and setting their tenure.
                5. Alternative ways to move from the present Board and Executive Committee
                   arrangement to the desired one.

Task

Rewrite the opening using the Minto Pyramid Principle. Return the introduction
and the points it sets out, not the full memorandum.

The judge’s gold gold.md

Gold 05: role of the board

Source structure: Minto (2010), Chapter 2.

Expected structure

Element	Expected value
Reader question	What must the Board change to focus on long-range strategy?
Top	The Board should make the changes that let it concentrate on strategy
Key-line kind	Actions

Key line:

Hand day-to-day operating responsibility to the Executive Committee.
Broaden the Board to include outside directors.
Formalize internal operation through policies and procedures.

The October reorganization is the Situation. The Board's long habit of handling
short-term issues is the Complication.

None of the five source topics should survive unchanged as a first-level point.
Composition, roles, outside participation, and tenure become evidence beneath
the three actions. "Alternative ways to get there" describes the entire
document and is not a branch. The purpose statement disappears because it is
neither Situation nor answer.

Judge gpt-5.6-sol, effort high · Claude Opus 5, effort low · skill from commit f4813ce · run v1.7.0-final