Say the point first, then explain it

You will be able to put the conclusion or request of any message in its first two sentences.

Think about the last long email you received at work. Where was the actual request? If you are like most people, you read the first few lines, decided whether it needed you, and moved on. If the ask was in the fourth paragraph, there is a fair chance you missed it, or found it two days late.

Now think about how you were taught to write. In school essays and university reports, you built up to the point: background, method, discussion, and finally the conclusion. That order suits a marker who has to read every word. It suits work badly, because your reader has a full inbox, a meeting in five minutes and a phone buzzing with chat messages.

The fix has a name. Bottom line up front, often shortened to BLUF, is a rule from US military writing: state the conclusion, recommendation or request first, then give the background that supports it. The reader learns what you want in the first sentence and decides how much of the rest they need.

Here is a typical message written the school way. We met the vendors on Tuesday and went through the three quotes. Two of them were over budget. The third, from the smaller firm, was within budget, but they need a deposit by Friday, and finance says it takes two days to process a payment. So could you approve the deposit today?

Here it is with the bottom line up front. Could you approve a deposit to the smaller vendor today? They need it by Friday and finance needs two days to process it. Theirs is the only one of the three quotes within budget, details below.

Same facts, roughly the same length. The second version gets a faster reply, because the reader knows in one sentence what is being asked and why it is urgent.

BLUF does not mean being blunt or dropping courtesy. You can still open with a greeting and close with thanks. It means the first real sentence carries the point. It also does not mean leaving out the reasons. They come second, for the reader who wants them, and the reader who trusts you can stop early.

It works in speech as well. When your manager stops by and asks how the report is going, the answer is on track for Thursday, with one risk around the data from the regional team. It is not a tour of everything you did this week. In a meeting it is I think we should delay the launch by two weeks, and here is why, not a long run-up that loses the room before you reach the point.

Two things make this harder than it sounds. The first is that you have to know your point before you send. Many long messages are long because the writer worked out what they thought while typing. That is fine for a draft. Before you send it, find the sentence that matters and move it to the top. The second is nerves. When the news is bad or the request is awkward, people tend to bury it under background. That rarely softens the news. It mostly makes the reader work harder to find it, and they notice.

A useful test before you send anything: if the reader stopped after two sentences, would they know what you want, from whom, and by when? If not, rewrite the opening.

This matters even more in Singapore workplaces, where many messages are read in a second or third language, or on a phone between meetings. Putting the point first helps those readers most, because they get what you need before the long sentences start.

In the next lesson you will see how to organise longer messages, such as reports and proposals, so the point sits on top and every reason supports it. Before you move on, try the activity below on real messages from your own sent folder.

Your task: find the last three long messages you sent at work. For each, underline the sentence that says what you wanted. Then rewrite the opening two sentences so that sentence comes first.

Take the last three long messages you sent at work and rewrite the opening two sentences of each so the request or conclusion comes first.

Course

• Communicate at work: writing, speaking and meetings