Principlev1
Before communicating any recommendation or conclusion,
Before communicating any recommendation or conclusion, explicitly establish common ground by stating what the audience already knows (Situation), what changed or created a need (Complication), and what question this raises (Question) before presenting your Answer.
Why This Is a Principle
This derives from Meaning as Receiver Construction (meaning is constructed by receivers using their own mental models rather than transmitted intact from senders) and Illusion of Explanatory Depth (self-assessment of understanding is systematically unreliable until forced to articulate). Minto's SCQA framework, presented in the lesson, is prescriptive structure derived from the axiom that meaning is receiver-constructed—you must build common ground before content can be interpreted. This is a principle (how to structure communication) derived from axioms about meaning construction.