Put the bottom line up front
Putting the bottom line up from, or "BLUF" as it's commonly referred to, can make your writing more clear and improve communication at your job or in your personal life. It's is a simplified communication strategy where you say the main point first. It's widely used in military and industry communications, and very similar to the tl;dr (too long; didn't read) style of summaries that got popular for large online posts.
Putting the bottom line up from, or "BLUF" as it's commonly referred to, can make your writing more clear and improve communication at your job or in your personal life. It's is a simplified communication strategy where you say the main point first. It's widely used in military and industry communications, and very similar to the tl;dr (too long; didn't read) style of summaries that got popular for large online posts.
As is often the case, the Wikipedia article on BLUF is a great place to read about this idea. It turns out most people don't need a ton of background or supporting evidence right away. They need to know what you're trying to say. Once you get that across, then supporting evidence or additional ideas become more useful. Putting your main point first can save time and make communication more clear.
Because 90% if the internet is just clickbait garbage now, the actual point of most articles gets buried. How many times have you seen a headline that reads like "You won't believe this one weird..." or "This viral sensation is..." or "... they don't want you to know!" Inevitably, if you actually read the article, the point is some extremely minor thing hidden after ten paragraphs of nonsense. These articles are attempting to exploit cheap psychological tricks to drive engagement, and are the exact opposite of good communication.
This isn't a problem unique to the recent rise of AI-generated content. Regular humans have been churning out clickbait and filling the internet with junk for decades. Arguably since September of 1993. But it doesn't have to be that way. You can improve your writing and make communication better wherever you apply this technique. Here are a few ways to do it.
A common suggestion for presenting information is "Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them and tell them what you’ve told them." It's a quote often attributed to Aristotle, although I don't think there's a record of him saying it. Regardless, it's good advice for simple communication. Start with your main idea, the "bottom line up front." Then go into supporting evidence, additional points, etc. End with a summary reinforcing and reiterating your main point.
A trick that comes from the fiction writing world is to write your opening paragraph last. People often have this idea that you have to write an email, technical article, or any piece of writing from the beginning to the end. You absolutely don't. Often over the course of writing an article I'll refine the topic and discover more about what I really wanted to say. Writing the whole article then writing the first paragraph lets you easily take the core idea and explain it first, putting the bottom line up front.
Hopefully this article has served as an example of why this is effective. You knew exactly what the article was about from the first paragraph, and if you read this far, you've gotten a few tips on how to accomplish clearer communication using the BLUF method.
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