What to write in a memo
How to write a great memo
hey it's nettle Medora here and today I
want to talk to you about how to write a
great memo a memo is usually sent as an
email and can replace the need to have
an entire meeting about a small subject
which could be explained with a little
memo but memos have a tendency to become
long and boring and a long and boring
memo can easily waste a lot of time and
start causing people to hate getting
future memos this is a bad thing so what
can a memo do well here's some examples
of what a memo can convey an IT guy
sending a reminder that all passwords
need to be updated every 60 days or an
office manager reminding people to put
all the dishes in the sink by the end of
the day it could be a CEO explaining a
new bonus policy or it could be a VP
telling their division they're falling
behind for the year and need to meet
certain numbers all of these things can
be explained in a memo and let's see how
we can make it a great memo well we have
five great tips for writing a great memo
so let's get started memo tip number one
make sure you have a crazily easy to
understand request before writing your
memo a lot of memos are long and
rambling and by the end of the email you
don't even know what the heck it's about
so before even blasting out a memo to
everyone ask yourself these questions
first does this even need to be a memo
this will take up people's time is this
something that can wait if I got this
memo in my inbox what I just roll my
eyes if I could get people to take one
action after reading this memo what
would it be if you cannot answer any of
those questions perhaps you need to
rethink if you should send out this memo
at all needless memos take up time cause
needless friction and pile more work
onto already busy people so let's make
sure the memo is 100% necessary before
even sending it out
memo tip number two get the essential
info out of the way in the shortest
space possible
sometimes a header of a memo will get
comically long and make it very
difficult to read the header is often
not very important so you'll want to
minimize the amount of space the header
takes up such as this you see how even
in this tiny little header it says who
it's from who it's for and what they
want done remember that a lot of people
open their messages and emails on
different devices such as tablets and
phones and if your header is too long
they have to scroll a significant amount
to see the real meat of the memo memo
tip number three your memo should convey
all the information in the smallest
amount of text possible if you followed
memo tip number one then you know the
exact action you want taken by the
readers of your memo get to this action
part fast as possible there's no need to
drag out the memo add unnecessary
commentary or use large words to appear
smart just get straight to the point
if you're feeling smart aleck Eeyore
adventurous feel free to use an image
like this who says well-crafted memos
can't be fun also memo tip number four
repeat and bold the action people should
take at the end in one sentence
make sure you reiterate exactly what you
need from people at the end of the memo
just like this this says what I need
from everyone email me your favorite
type of cake by 5:00 p.m. today simply
stating what you need from people at the
end will dramatically increase how many
people take the action and just make it
easier for everyone involved
memo tip number five if action doesn't
need to be taken then tell them let's
save a massive amount of time for
everyone if something needs no action
just say it at the end of your memo just
write at the end no action required
those three simple words let everyone
know there's nothing further they have
to do so let's take a quick look of some
good memos and bad memos so here is an
example of a great memo and the
characteristics it has is the very first
section reminds them what action to take
the main message is super short and to
the point and the very last section re
reminds them
action to take again this is a great
memo because in a very short amount of
time it lets people know exactly what
they need to do and when they need to do
it by now here's an example of a bad
memo it's got a super long header it
speaks in a very corporate eet own which
bores people it's got a super long body
of text that's hard to read it's got a
lot of unnecessary meandering details
the main point of the memo is not
immediately obvious when you look at it
and the last section does not restate
the action people need to take so
they've got to hunt down what they have
to do so let's go over a quick checklist
of what will make a good memo 1 make
sure the action you're requesting is
worthy of an entire memo to give a
one-sentence explanation of the memo in
the header shorter equals better 3 get
to the point right away
reread your memo and eliminate needless
chatter for the last part of the memo
should say exactly what action you want
people to take by following this quick
checklist you could turn a long and
boring memo into a quick and effective
memo so remember my friend only you can
prevent terrible memos
