If your reaction to the title is “What?! I disagree—you must not understand BLUF”, then you proved my point about the harms of asking for a summ

BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) hurts communication and hinders innovation

submited by

Style Pass

2024-09-29 18:00:02

If your reaction to the title is “What?! I disagree—you must not understand BLUF”, then you proved my point about the harms of asking for a summary or TL;DR.1

Similar to how journalists write news articles using the inverted pyramid, BLUF puts key conclusions first, and details later. It works well in the military (where it was originally developed), in an environment where decisions need to be made quickly inside a rigid hierarchy that prizes discipline and authority.

But BLUF backfires when your conclusions are counterintuitive or controversial, especially in a startup where decisions are fluid, roles are open-ended, and creativity is essential.

Military communiqués come from the soldier mindset—BLUF starts with a conclusion, and now I just need to convince you of that conclusion (and not any other conclusions).

But what if you disagree? Then you are automatically “fighting” against me, before you even get to see the supporting evidence.