Top-down thinking: an excellent introduction

A client asked me yesterday about 'top-down thinking'.  They are currently booking courses on the subject from an (unnamed) consultancy. 

A little light surfing found this excellent summary of the approach.

 

It's essentially Barbara Minto's Pyramid Principle, and none the worse for that. I use elements from this approach in a lot of my own work.  I like its rigour and the robust rules that underpin it.

Of course, effective writing requires more than just top-down thinking.  But then, I would say that, wouldn't I?