What’s the Bottom Line?

“Communication is what the listener does.” — Peter Drucker

I had a boss once that told me “I dread reading your e-mails.” When I asked him why he told me that it took him too long to read them. I thought I was providing the detail required for him to understand what I was thinking and why I was making a particular recommendation or decision. I was trying to communicate clearly. Instead I was confusing him by providing too much detail and burying the key points at the bottom or even the middle of the e-mail.

I’d forgotten that what I was writing wasn’t about me. It was about getting my message to him in a way that he could understand it. In this case putting the Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF) solved the problem. For complicated issues I could still at the background information and data as long as my main message was up front and clear. That way he had the choice of saying “Got it, I don’t have to read the rest of this.” Or he could skim my supporting materials to get a better understanding of what I was trying to get across.

Usually, however, he would follow-up talk face-to-face. This was his preferred method of communication. This way he could ask questions to get the clarity he needed, and go to the level of detail appropriate to him. Usually this was faster than me writing and him reading a long, drawn-out e-mail, and he was happier.

Notice that the communication to him was all about him?

By keeping the e-mail traffic short, simple, to the point, and by putting the bottom line up front, I was able to communicate more, faster, and with less back-and-forth.