Carl Braun

American engineer and founder of C.F. Braun & Co. (industrial engineering) who developed rigorous communication standards — cited by Charlie Munger as the originator of the 'five Ws' communication rule.

The five Ws rule: Braun required that every written communication in his engineering firm answer Who, What, Where, When, and Why — with no exceptions. Munger cites Braun as his exemplar of communication discipline: if you can't articulate who will do what, by when, and why, you haven't thought clearly enough about the problem. The rule anticipates the memo culture that Amazon later codified. A minor figure in management history whose communication standard became famous through Munger's endorsement.