Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)

"Make your bottom line your top line." The military uses this rule because busy readers do not have time to guess what you want. The Bottom Line Up Front principle means you must put your most important sentence at the very beginning. If you can only keep one sentence from your entire message, make it your first line. Even your email subjects should tell the whole story instead of using vague words.

Structure matters. Requests before justifications, answers before explanations, conclusions before discussions. While occasionally you might delay your main point to soften bad news or introduce controversial ideas, most effective communication frontloads importance. When ending, simply stop, unless persuasion requires a forecast or feelings demand goodwill.