Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)?

APPROVED

BLUF: 

• Use BLUF to help the audience decide to read or listen to your communication.

• Use BLUF to help the audience figure out where all this is going.

• Use BLUF to let the audience know that there's something they need to do.

This article satisfies Squid Commo Objective #4: Stop wasting people's time.

There are two ways to communicate in business: (1) the Aesop's fable and (2) the Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF).

In the Aesop's fable, you have to hold the receiver's attention with some elaborate (and hopefully entertaining) tale while you set them up for the moral of the story. That is, they are left wondering where the heck this is all going until the end. This is a terrible way to do business. 

Get to the point.

The better way is to let them know at the outset what the required action or point of the communication is. They are much more likely to give your communication the proper attention, and you have helped everyone involved work more productively.

Here are some examples.

Actionable

• Aesop: "Dear Mom & Dad, did you see the news about this being the hottest summer on record? That global warming is really something. And you know how dry and dusty it gets here in West Texas..."

• BLUF: "Hey, I ran out of beer money. Could you send me some? ASAP?"

Informational

• Aesop:  "Dear Mom & Dad, remember when you wired me that beer money last month? Funny story. I went to this club and met the most interesting young lady..."

• BLUF: "Hey, congratulations. You're gonna be grandparents."

The hardest part of any professional communication is quashing your inherent, perceived need to tell a story. (Or worse yet, huckster me like a used car salesman.)

No one needs your story. Save that for your friends. If I want to know more, I'll reply and ask specifically what I need to know. Work on developing this rare instinct in determining what information is really necessary for the success of this particular communication. Give your audience the gift of BLUF.

The professional work world will be yours to have and to hold for as long as you both shall live.

Bonus Learning

Here are two classic examples of the nightmarish emails I get from students. (And these are two of the short ones.) 

There are one or two questions they want answered. Those be the BLUF. Find them, then rewrite the email with all the unnecessary yap removed (i.e., most of the email).

• Student Email 1

• Student Email 2