SCQA
SCQA is the four-step setup that frames any persuasive deck. It is the way Barbara Minto's Pyramid Principle opens an argument:
- Situation. What the audience already accepts as true. The shared starting point. Non-controversial, recognisable.
- Complication. What changed, what is at stake, why we are here. Tension. The reason this conversation is happening.
- Question. The strategic question the deck answers. Often implicit, but must be answerable.
- Answer. The Big Idea. One sentence. The thesis the rest of the deck defends.
SCQA is not a slide. It is the opening frame — the first 30 seconds, the executive summary, the abstract. It earns the audience's attention by putting them inside a question they care about, then answering it.
Why it works
It mirrors how minds engage with problems: agreement → tension → question → resolution. Skipping Situation makes the deck feel ungrounded. Skipping Complication makes it feel optional. Skipping Question lets the audience invent their own — and they will pick a worse one. Skipping Answer is decoration.
Worked example
Situation. Our consulting product has 8,000 paying customers and 22% YoY growth.
Complication. Net retention dropped from 118% to 102% in two quarters; churn is concentrated in the cohort that signed under the old packaging.
Question. Should we re-package, re-price, or both?
Answer. Re-package now, re-price in Q3 — re-packaging recovers 60% of the at-risk MRR with no commercial risk; re-pricing waits until the new package proves out.
Failure modes
- Situation too long. The audience knows the situation. Three sentences max.
- Complication is just bad news. Complication needs stakes — what changes if we ignore it.
- Question is rhetorical. If the answer is obvious from the question, the question was wrong.
- Answer is not a Claim. "We should explore options" is not an Answer. It is avoidance.
Canonical phrasing
SCQA is the Big Idea's runway. Without it, the Big Idea lands cold.