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> This is really hard to adapt to it at the beginning but decision making is so much faster. Yeah. God forbid that anyone making decisions should have to deal

by _pmf_ 14y ago

> This is really hard to adapt to it at the beginning but decision making is so much faster. Yeah. God forbid that anyone making decisions should have to deal with actual details; in the worst case, this would actually make them have to think.

ekianjo 14y ago
It does not mean it does not have details, but you have to sort out the details that matter for management. That's how they can make decisions instead of drowning them in pages and pages of information.
- agent00f 14y ago
  While it is a valid goal to cut down on irrelevancies (like empty lingo), it's the exact the wrong mentality to consider detail the enemy of good decisions. Good decision making stems from understanding a problem comprehensively, not via often misleading generalities. I would even question whether it's possible to accurately summarize anything more trivial problems in a single page; the sort of menial issue that doesn't warrant a widely-distributed memo in the first place.
  - ekianjo 14y ago
    Then your doubts are not limited to 6 pages either. How do you determine the right number of pages then? 6 pages may be summarizing thousands of pages of information for all you know. How is this enough ? In the end what really matters CAN and SHOULD be summarized, and if additional details are needed there is always a place for sharing and discussion with management.
    - agent00f 14y ago
      I was remarking on this point: >In a famous Ranked 1st Consumer Goods company (i'll let you guess which one) all team memos to management are only allowed to be of a single page. This is really hard to adapt to it at the beginning but decision making is so much faster. I'm sure less info makes decisions faster, but this seems rather the opposite of a virtue. Eg. GWB "the decider".
      - ekianjo 14y ago
        It does not mean there is less info. It means the info is more dense, more concise, well prepared and summarized and straight to the point. It's not because you have 6 pages that it's a guarantee to avoid putting 5 pages of garbage or unnecessary prose.
        mpyne 14y ago
        It also means you can, by definition, not put more than 1 page of details into a given issue. As usual the Navy/DoD seems to have this figured out: BLUF: "Bottom-Line Up Front": Concise description of the problem, recommended solution w/out corroborating detail. FYSA: "For Your Situational Awareness": This may help the boss understand the problem better, but it isn't something they need to know or understand right now. FYI: "For Your Information": Boss, you need to read this before making your decision. If you can't trust your underlings to use each appropriately so that you can triage what you have time for, then you either need new underlings or you need to take responsibility for training them better. A 1-page limit on decisional memorandums is just as artificial as a 64-KB limit on code page size for executable programs.
        ekianjo 14y ago
        > is just as artificial as a 64-KB limit on code page size for executable programs. Well look at the intros of 64kb, you can still do amazing things with no space :)
      - rubinelli 14y ago
        Most 6-page memos I've found in the wild are 1-page memos that the author felt had to be padded to look more "professional." And everybody's always busy. If you send them a 6-page memo, they won't read it before the meeting. One page? Yeah, that's doable. So they go to the meeting knowing what it's about.
chaz 14y ago
Cynicism not necessary. It depends on the culture of internal communications and the purpose of the memo. Are these weekly update memos on activities to be discussed at the staff meeting? Is it asking for permission on something? Is it just informational? Receiving dozens of these a day can be daunting, and forcing limits on length force articulation of what's new and a clear question being asked. Sounds very basic, but lots of memos are poorly written. Google and other companies are known for very brief updates (may be called memos in your organization), as short as a single line, sent per week. No need to send multiple pages of details: http://blog.idonethis.com/post/16736314554/silicon-valleys-productivity-secret http://blog.idonethis.com/post/16736314554/silicon-valleys-p... These memos are different from the author's post, which is really not about memos, but rather an alternative means of presenting all of the information required to get to the key discussion in a meeting. I don't think is anyone is suggesting that 6 pg emails should be the memos, and something is wrong if the 6pg emails are replacing decks that are being sent around via email.
wisty 14y ago
Presumably management can (and should) drill down. I suppose it stops middle managers from covering their asses with excuses like "Yeah, I said there was a risk of it all exploding, in paragraph 3 of Appendix II". If they find out something important was left out, they know there was an attempt to hide it.
stephencanon 14y ago
One page suffices to give an immediate “yes” or “no” for the vast majority of decisions. If more details are required, you could just ask for them, or even call a meeting.

by _pmf_ 14y ago

ekianjo 14y ago

It does not mean it does not have details, but you have to sort out the details that matter for management. That's how they can make decisions instead of drowning them in pages and pages of information.

agent00f 14y ago
While it is a valid goal to cut down on irrelevancies (like empty lingo), it's the exact the wrong mentality to consider detail the enemy of good decisions. Good decision making stems from understanding a problem comprehensively, not via often misleading generalities. I would even question whether it's possible to accurately summarize anything more trivial problems in a single page; the sort of menial issue that doesn't warrant a widely-distributed memo in the first place.
- ekianjo 14y ago
  Then your doubts are not limited to 6 pages either. How do you determine the right number of pages then? 6 pages may be summarizing thousands of pages of information for all you know. How is this enough ? In the end what really matters CAN and SHOULD be summarized, and if additional details are needed there is always a place for sharing and discussion with management.
  - agent00f 14y ago
    I was remarking on this point: >In a famous Ranked 1st Consumer Goods company (i'll let you guess which one) all team memos to management are only allowed to be of a single page. This is really hard to adapt to it at the beginning but decision making is so much faster. I'm sure less info makes decisions faster, but this seems rather the opposite of a virtue. Eg. GWB "the decider".
    - ekianjo 14y ago
      It does not mean there is less info. It means the info is more dense, more concise, well prepared and summarized and straight to the point. It's not because you have 6 pages that it's a guarantee to avoid putting 5 pages of garbage or unnecessary prose.
      - mpyne 14y ago
        It also means you can, by definition, not put more than 1 page of details into a given issue. As usual the Navy/DoD seems to have this figured out: BLUF: "Bottom-Line Up Front": Concise description of the problem, recommended solution w/out corroborating detail. FYSA: "For Your Situational Awareness": This may help the boss understand the problem better, but it isn't something they need to know or understand right now. FYI: "For Your Information": Boss, you need to read this before making your decision. If you can't trust your underlings to use each appropriately so that you can triage what you have time for, then you either need new underlings or you need to take responsibility for training them better. A 1-page limit on decisional memorandums is just as artificial as a 64-KB limit on code page size for executable programs.
        ekianjo 14y ago
        > is just as artificial as a 64-KB limit on code page size for executable programs. Well look at the intros of 64kb, you can still do amazing things with no space :)
    - rubinelli 14y ago
      Most 6-page memos I've found in the wild are 1-page memos that the author felt had to be padded to look more "professional." And everybody's always busy. If you send them a 6-page memo, they won't read it before the meeting. One page? Yeah, that's doable. So they go to the meeting knowing what it's about.

chaz 14y ago

Cynicism not necessary. It depends on the culture of internal communications and the purpose of the memo. Are these weekly update memos on activities to be discussed at the staff meeting? Is it asking for permission on something? Is it just informational? Receiving dozens of these a day can be daunting, and forcing limits on length force articulation of what's new and a clear question being asked. Sounds very basic, but lots of memos are poorly written. Google and other companies are known for very brief updates (may be called memos in your organization), as short as a single line, sent per week. No need to send multiple pages of details: http://blog.idonethis.com/post/16736314554/silicon-valleys-productivity-secret http://blog.idonethis.com/post/16736314554/silicon-valleys-p... These memos are different from the author's post, which is really not about memos, but rather an alternative means of presenting all of the information required to get to the key discussion in a meeting. I don't think is anyone is suggesting that 6 pg emails should be the memos, and something is wrong if the 6pg emails are replacing decks that are being sent around via email.

wisty 14y ago

Presumably management can (and should) drill down. I suppose it stops middle managers from covering their asses with excuses like "Yeah, I said there was a risk of it all exploding, in paragraph 3 of Appendix II". If they find out something important was left out, they know there was an attempt to hide it.

stephencanon 14y ago

One page suffices to give an immediate “yes” or “no” for the vast majority of decisions. If more details are required, you could just ask for them, or even call a meeting.