Memos

Memo are written for a variety of reasons. Typically, they are used to provide a brief discussion of an issue, a short analysis of some information, or a point of view about something. Memos may also present some specific information (e.g., the time and place a meeting will occur). The format of a memo will vary, depending on the purpose of it; however, there is a premium on conciseness. Most decision makers (your boss and people above him/her) will read an enormous number of memos daily, either in paper form or via email. In a memo, you want to get to the point quickly, concisely, and clearly.

As noted, memos are often used to present a brief discussion of an analysis. This analysis may be of some sort of quantitative or qualitative information. Individuals in a variety of positions will often find themselves doing a short analysis and then reporting that analysis in a memo. This type of memo is often called a memo report in that it reports an analysis of information but is shorter than a business report. A memo report is usually an internal document, written to a few others in your organization. Alternatively, a business report generally would be bound with colored covers and is suitable for distribution beyond your organization (depending on whether there is private or classified information in it).

An example of a short memo report is presented here to illustrate the way you should organize information from an analysis. This example presents the shipments/retail sales of Blu-ray discs for the third quarter of 2010, and then uses information from the first three quarters of the year and previous years’ data to project the sales for the fourth quarter of 2010. The specific headings a memo report can use may differ from this particular example; you should follow any specific instructions that a professor or manager may give you. The important thing to note is that this example presents the most important material up front; the key information a decision maker needs to see is on the first page.

After the “TO,” “FROM,” and “DATE” of the memo, it should have a subject line (either “SUBJECT:” or “RE:”). This subject line and the first paragraph of the memo should provide the reader with enough information to decide whether he/she needs to read it. As Holly Weeks states, “Your opening must answer the reader’s question ‘Why am I reading this?’ To do so, it needs to establish the relevance and the utility of the document as a whole.”1 If you believe that your analysis is important, you should make sure that the nature of it and the relevance to the reader is clear in the subject line and the first paragraph. Therefore, the first paragraph should be a clear statement of the purpose of the memo (e.g., what it reports).

A short statement of the method comes next. The Method section should provide the reader with enough information to evaluate the worth of what is being presented. Thus, the Method section should deal with such topics as the sources of the information presented and the nature of the analyses performed. If primary research was conducted (e.g., a study of some sort was conducted by the person writing the memo report), the Method section should spell out such things as the procedures that were followed, the nature of the questionnaire (if one was used), and the sampling procedures used to acquire respondents.

In this memo, a Findings section follows the Method section. In this particular case, the findings are somewhat more important than the recommendations. If the recommendations are the most important thing, then you may want to organize the memo to present them before findings.

Note that the Findings section briefly presents the important results of the analysis without unnecessary embellishment. At this point, you do not want to overwhelm the reader with a lot of detail. Leave the detail for the Detailed Analysis section that begins on the second page. Therefore, if a decision maker wants to further investigate something you report in the Findings section, he/she can go to the Detailed Analysis section. The Findings section provides the most important findings of your analysis and the implications, stated briefly.

The Recommendations section provides a statement about what you believe should occur as a function of your analysis. In many cases, you may not have a Recommendations section; it depends on the nature of the analysis. When appropriate, however, you should state what course of action should be taken (or considered). This may take the form of a specific decision that should be made. In this case, you have recommended how much of an increase in the production of Blu-ray discs should be made, given your prediction of sales for the 4th quarter.

Depending on the depth of the analysis, you may have a Detailed Analysis section. You can think of this section as similar to an appendix. It presents the findings in greater detail. Here is where you would present detailed tables, charts, figures, and numbers. When possible, it is always better to present a lot of numbers in a table or chart, as it is difficult for a reader to deal with numbers in the middle of text. Remember the old saying “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

There will be some redundancy between the Findings and the Detailed Analysis sections. In fact, there should be nothing presented in the Findings that is not presented in the Detailed Analysis section in a more thorough manner. These two sections do not provide different information, just different levels of detail of the same information.

Again, this example of a memo report is not the only acceptable format. It illustrates the important aspects of any memo. This example presents the purpose of the memo immediately. The findings and recommendations are presented early in the memo (on the first page). The presentation of detailed information is relegated to the end of the memo. This organization allows the decision maker to decide quickly if he/she needs to read it, then presents the important information concisely and quickly.