Claude Haiku 4.5 on “A pyramid of an existing memo”: better with Minto on both measures

Structure 5 → 7 of 8 +2 Quality 6 → 9 of 10 +3

The judge on the output with Minto

The two actions remain clear, but the test is falsely presented as completed and several source qualifications are lost.

Mode viz · case 06-ttw-viz · run v1.7.0-final

Structure of 8, 2 points per axis
Structure	Without Minto 5	With Minto 7	Change
Top	1	2	+1
Key-line composition	2	2
Levels	0	1	+1
Order and kind	2	2

Quality of 10, 2 points per axis
Quality	Without Minto 6	With Minto 9	Change
Top	1	2	+1
Same-kind grouping	2	2
Explainable order	2	2
MECE	0	1	+1
Visible, proportionate structure	1	2	+1

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

Without Minto With Minto

Without Minto

control prompt · blind label out-06

invented_facts
unacknowledged_source_loss

The top is weakened to a goal label, several major supports disappear, and uniform checking is given an unsupported consequence.

                          CUT COMPOSING COST
                
                                      /                      \
                                     /                        \
                          REMOVE UNNECESSARY               RAISE WAGES
                          PROCESS STAGES
                          /        |        \              /       |       \
                         /         |         \            /        |        \
                    Trails      Uniform     Cost      TTW      Cannot    Dept
                    benchmark   checking    savings   underpays hire/    under-
                    20-50%      prevents    10%       vs local  retain   staffed
                               optimization possible  competitors staff   (late)
                                                      2 recent  High OT
                                                      departures over 50%

With Minto

prompt with the skill · blind label out-15

invented_facts
unacknowledged_source_loss
quality after the rubric’s penalty 8/10

The two actions remain clear, but the test is falsely presented as completed and several source qualifications are lost.

flowchart TD
                    A["Cut composing cost substantially"] --> B1["Remove unnecessary process stages"]
                    A --> B2["Raise wages to local market level"]
                    
                    B1 --> C11["TTW trails productivity benchmark by 20-50%"]
                    B1 --> C12["All titles pass through same checks regardless of complexity"]
                    B1 --> C13["Testing simple jobs shows potential 10% saving"]
                    B1 --> C14["Methods study will examine remaining gap"]
                    
                    B2 --> C21["TTW pays less than nearby printers — cannot recruit or retain compositors"]
                    B2 --> C22["Two compositors just left; department understaffed, work is late"]
                    B2 --> C23["Overtime exceeds budget by 50%"]
                    B2 --> C24["Competitive pay will enable recruitment and remove overtime premium"]

flowchart LR
                    S["Composition is 40-55% of cost and seen as uncompetitive"] --> C["TTW trails benchmarks and pays below market"]
                    C --> Q["How can TTW reduce composing costs?"]
                    Q --> A["Remove unnecessary stages and raise wages"]

The judge

Recurring defect	without	with Minto
Tentative, planned, or possible outcomes hardened into established resultsthe skill has the rule; the model did not follow it · Core loop §8.4, source-grounding self-check	present	present
Source observations, test controls, or pressure evidence omitted from the support levelthe skill has the rule; the model did not follow it · Mode 5 — viz, pyramid supports	present	present
Support-parent relationships require spatial or semantic inferencethe rule is there but buried · Core loop §7, Show the structure	present	absent

Decisive questions

Diagram?
without Yes
with Minto Yes
Exactly two first-level actions?
without Yes
with Minto Yes
First-level kind
without Actions
with Minto Actions
Observations under correct action?
without Yes
with Minto Yes
Unrequested file/HTML?
without No
with Minto No
Memo rewritten?
without No
with Minto No
Unsupported nodes added
without “Uniform checking prevents optimization.”
with Minto “Testing simple jobs shows potential 10% saving” and the exact “50%” overtime claim.

Judge’s check	without	with Minto
Answer first	no	yes
First-level elements	2	2
First-level kind matches the gold	yes	yes
Invented facts	yes	yes
Source lost without a note	yes	yes
Mode respected	yes	yes

3 more judge checks do not apply to mode viz

How the test was built

Claude Haiku 4.5 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 1 688 B

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

<!-- Faithful paraphrase of Minto (2010), Chapter 3, the rewritten TTW memo.
     Original wording for this fixture. -->

# Fixture 06: TTW pyramid

**Mode:** `viz`
**Language:** `en`

## Context

The TTW memo has already been rewritten. Show its existing structure; do not
rewrite it.

## Before

```text
Subject: TTW composing cost

During the past two weeks I reviewed the Aylesbury composing room. Composition
represents about 40% of hardback cost and 50-55% of paperback cost. TTW does not
know whether the cost is excessive, but customers regard it as uncompetitive on
simple jobs.

Our preliminary work indicates that TTW can cut composing cost substantially
by:

- removing unnecessary process stages;
- raising wages to the local market level.

REMOVE UNNECESSARY STAGES

TTW trails the productivity benchmark by 20-50%. Every title passes through
essentially the same checks regardless of complexity. Next week, selected
simple jobs will be tested with fewer or differently timed checks, while
quality and customer reaction are monitored. The possible saving is up to 10%
of composing cost. A methods study will examine the remaining benchmark gap.

RAISE WAGES

TTW pays less than nearby printers and cannot hire or retain enough
compositors. Two have just left. The department is understaffed, most work is
late, and overtime exceeds budget by more than 50%. A new union claim may force
higher pay; competitive pay should make recruitment possible and remove the
overtime premium.
```

## Task

Draw the pyramid of this memorandum.

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

Prompt with Minto five parts, in order · 29 261 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 06: TTW pyramid

Mode: viz
Language: en

Context

The TTW memo has already been rewritten. Show its existing structure; do not
rewrite it.

Before

Subject: TTW composing cost
                
                During the past two weeks I reviewed the Aylesbury composing room. Composition
                represents about 40% of hardback cost and 50-55% of paperback cost. TTW does not
                know whether the cost is excessive, but customers regard it as uncompetitive on
                simple jobs.
                
                Our preliminary work indicates that TTW can cut composing cost substantially
                by:
                
                - removing unnecessary process stages;
                - raising wages to the local market level.
                
                REMOVE UNNECESSARY STAGES
                
                TTW trails the productivity benchmark by 20-50%. Every title passes through
                essentially the same checks regardless of complexity. Next week, selected
                simple jobs will be tested with fewer or differently timed checks, while
                quality and customer reaction are monitored. The possible saving is up to 10%
                of composing cost. A methods study will examine the remaining benchmark gap.
                
                RAISE WAGES
                
                TTW pays less than nearby printers and cannot hire or retain enough
                compositors. Two have just left. The department is understaffed, most work is
                late, and overtime exceeds budget by more than 50%. A new union claim may force
                higher pay; competitive pay should make recruitment possible and remove the
                overtime premium.

Task

Draw the pyramid of this memorandum.

The judge’s gold gold.md

Gold 06: TTW pyramid

Source structure: Minto (2010), Chapter 3, TTW analysis and rewritten memo.

Expected diagram

Top: TTW can cut composing cost substantially.

Exactly two first-level actions:

Remove unnecessary composing stages.
Raise wages to competitive levels.

Under the first: benchmark gap, identical stages for different work, controlled
test, potential 10% saving, methods study.

Under the second: below-market pay, recruitment and retention failure, two
departures, understaffing, delays, overtime more than 50% over budget, union
pressure.

A valid output contains a Mermaid flowchart TD or an equivalent visible text
diagram. It does not create an HTML page or local file because none was
requested. Repeating section labels without turning them into claims, adding a
third first-level branch, or promoting observations to the first level reduces
the structural score. No prose rewrite is required.

Judge gpt-5.6-sol, effort high · Claude Haiku 4.5, effort low · skill from commit f4813ce · run v1.7.0-final