Product Management playbook/Module 9 · Stakeholders

Day 87 / 100 · Stakeholders · Writing for decisions: the memo

Write it down to think it through.

Writing a short memo forces clear reasoning. Reading it together at the start of a meeting means everyone starts from the same facts.

The Decision Memo

01 · CONTEXT

What's happening, in a few sentences.

02 · PROBLEM

What's broken, for whom, and the evidence.

03 · OPTIONS

Two or three real options, with the trade-offs.

04 · RECOMMENDATION

Which option, and why. Be clear.

05 · RISKS

What could go wrong, and how we'd handle it.

06 · DECISION NEEDED

From whom, and by when.

Try this: start the meeting with ten minutes of silent reading. Discussion gets sharper, and the quietest people have read the same facts as the loudest.

Source: Amazon ↗

Clear writing is clear thinking.