Minimum Meaningful Message (MMM)

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Minimum Meaningful Message (MMM) is the core principle of the Stackable Jacks Method.
When a practitioner marks a statement as MMM, they confirm that it is complete, stable, and does not require further breakdown.

An MMM is the shortest linguistic construct that adequately conveys a specific use case.

It is self-contained at the level it is written, and no word can be removed or added without altering its intent.

Although the shortest possible MMM is a simple action statement (“verb + noun”), an MMM is not limited to two words. Its length depends entirely on the precision required by the use case. Some messages can be naturally compressed, while others need additional wording because the subject matter cannot be reduced any further.

MMM promotes disciplined wording by ensuring:

• Conciseness – only essential wording remains.
• Precision – no vague or loose phrasing.
• Semantic clarity – no overlap of meaning.
• Resolution – alternative readings are generalised.
• Sufficiency – the message stands on its own.

MMM underpins the entire Stackable Jacks Method:

• Jack Semantics refines messages toward MMM.
• Jack Points hold MMM-level statements without needing decomposition.
• The Jack Tree structures MMM-based actions.
• Jack Stories and Jack Scenarios express MMM-derived paths.

By definition, the Jack itself — the verb + noun action — is the shortest possible MMM.
This is why MMM is the central principle: it defines how meaning is formed before any technique can operate.