Autism

But, don't go overboard with how short the summary is, and avoid having appendices to appendices. For some people, going down the appendix rabbit hole is much harder than it would have been if it was laid in order that this pyramid is built.

Had lots of arguments about this with my ex, actually. If, there's was some topic that went, say, A+B=C, I would tell her about C first, and, if she didn't know it already, she'd be asking "the what now?", so I had to explain that it's was the result of A and B, both of which she would likely have no idea about either, so had to ask about each again. Couple layers deep she'd grow tired of asking, we'd lose track of the conversation and I'd continue on to ramble about the implications of C on D, while she grew visibly frustrated as she was missing crucial parts of the discussion.

She herself on the other hand, tended to build up to everything she had to say from afar, probably because she was such a bookworm. She would explain A and B in great detail first, then how they combine together to result in C, and then what that C is, exactly. And my ADHD ass would be like "yeah, yeah, yadda-yadda, know this, know that", and then blank out and miss out on the point entirely. Honestly, should've just paid more attention to her and we'd probably would've never broken up.

But, we'd often have miscommunications because I under-explained my intentions or things that I was never asked about, so she'd have to fill in the blanks, and was often completely wrong. Even when I did provide the supporting information, it wasn't anything like the neat pyramid she was building, it was more like a hole straight down the depths of hell and then off to the sideways into the subway line. Kind of llike this exact message, that I've written as a short train of thought first, but then rewritten and rearranged most of the sentences, expanded on them, and then rewritten again, but can't for the life of me gather enough attention to see it all the way through (Sorry about that, trying really hard on this one)

The point is, communication is hard. I still think that going from the top of the information pyramid rather than from the bottom is a superior approach, but I now do realize that I can't expect people to ask questions indefinitely. So I try to go a couple layers deep after the initial point and then back again, so that people used to both ways of communicating are comfortable.