Anonymous
11/17/2025 19:54
Subject: What’s the professional equivalent of “ TL;DR” ?
BLUF
Anonymous
11/17/2025 19:45
Subject: What’s the professional equivalent of “ TL;DR” ?
I usually dump some version in the email topic line.
Anonymous
11/17/2025 13:35
Subject: What’s the professional equivalent of “ TL;DR” ?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If I am writing more than a paragraph I always start the email or memo with a sentence saying what action is requested and a brief statement of why.
“Hi all,
This email is to recommend that Director Larlo authorize me to inform XYZ corp that they need to redo their TPS filing for October because they failed to include an analysis of their teapot process.
…
“
This is very unclear.
Hi all, by copy of this email, I request that Larlo authorize me to... This action is necessary b/c they failed.
You put two fuzzy words in the first phrase and this one sentence says 3 things. I'm not saying it's bad prose but for an email and people with limited attention, my suggestion is better.
“By copy of this email”? maybe that is a term of art where you work but not where I work. Personally I find the one long sentence preferable to the clunkier “This action is necessary because …” but preferences vary.
Anonymous
11/17/2025 13:33
Subject: What’s the professional equivalent of “ TL;DR” ?
I'm a fed and we have BLUF.
Anonymous
11/17/2025 13:31
Subject: What’s the professional equivalent of “ TL;DR” ?
BLUF
Anonymous
11/17/2025 11:07
Subject: Re:What’s the professional equivalent of “ TL;DR” ?
Anonymous wrote:In certain organizations (govt), it is common to start with BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) and then follow up with the details
I am a big fan of BLUF. If I don't care, need more information, etc, I can just move on. If you include more information in the message beyond the BLUF, you should assume that no one has read it. If you try and integrate a summary early on, the reader does not know if you have hidden extra information in the rest of the message.
Anonymous
11/17/2025 10:19
Subject: What’s the professional equivalent of “ TL;DR” ?
Anonymous wrote:“In short, …”
“To summarize, …”
“In conclusion, …”
These all work but when I was a fed, this summary always came in the first paragraph, not at the end. I think it's a much better system.
Anonymous
11/17/2025 10:12
Subject: What’s the professional equivalent of “ TL;DR” ?
Anonymous wrote:If I am writing more than a paragraph I always start the email or memo with a sentence saying what action is requested and a brief statement of why.
“Hi all,
This email is to recommend that Director Larlo authorize me to inform XYZ corp that they need to redo their TPS filing for October because they failed to include an analysis of their teapot process.
…
“
This is very unclear.
Hi all, by copy of this email, I request that Larlo authorize me to... This action is necessary b/c they failed.
You put two fuzzy words in the first phrase and this one sentence says 3 things. I'm not saying it's bad prose but for an email and people with limited attention, my suggestion is better.
Anonymous
11/17/2025 10:10
Subject: What’s the professional equivalent of “ TL;DR” ?
Anonymous wrote:“In short, …”
“To summarize, …”
“In conclusion, …”
How does OP not know this.
Another option: Lead with the lede and give details after the main point. Like this;
State the conclusion in a sentence to a paragraph.
List the top 3-5 reasons for the conclusion.
Offer more details via call/zoom/another eamil.
Anonymous
11/17/2025 10:09
Subject: Re:What’s the professional equivalent of “ TL;DR” ?
In certain organizations (govt), it is common to start with BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) and then follow up with the details
Anonymous
11/17/2025 10:08
Subject: What’s the professional equivalent of “ TL;DR” ?
If I am writing more than a paragraph I always start the email or memo with a sentence saying what action is requested and a brief statement of why.
“Hi all,
This email is to recommend that Director Larlo authorize me to inform XYZ corp that they need to redo their TPS filing for October because they failed to include an analysis of their teapot process.
…
“
“Hi all,
This email is to recommend that Director Larlo authorize me to inform XYZ corp that they need to redo their TPS filing for October because they failed to include an analysis of their teapot process.
…
“
Anonymous
11/17/2025 10:04
Subject: What’s the professional equivalent of “ TL;DR” ?
“In short, …”
“To summarize, …”
“In conclusion, …”
“To summarize, …”
“In conclusion, …”
Anonymous
11/17/2025 09:38
Subject: What’s the professional equivalent of “ TL;DR” ?
I just put the conclusion in one line at the top, and give the reasons below.
Anonymous
11/17/2025 09:38
Subject: What’s the professional equivalent of “ TL;DR” ?
The professional way to do this is the include the top line summary as the first line or short paragraph of the document.
You then proceed by saying something like "To provide a bit more detail on that analysis, ...." or "Here are the three factors that led to this conclusion," or something like that.
You can also conclude by saying something like "In summary". But that might not be necessary is you've said it clearly at the outset.
You then proceed by saying something like "To provide a bit more detail on that analysis, ...." or "Here are the three factors that led to this conclusion," or something like that.
You can also conclude by saying something like "In summary". But that might not be necessary is you've said it clearly at the outset.
Anonymous
11/17/2025 09:34
Subject: What’s the professional equivalent of “ TL;DR” ?
What do you use in place of TL;DR to summarize for a reader in an email.