Memo writing 4

[djj55]

In this time of emails, the art of memo writing has suffered.

I received an email with a .pdf attachment, which turned out to be a memo about the companies health care switch. The memo does not have any errors, however, the style seem to be taken from emails rather than business memo writing as it once was done. Example, the writer uses the word today "Do not use the xxxx Medical and Rx card after today". Not wrong but they could have stated the date rather than make me look for it as I did not read the memo until the next day.

Another place where they could have done better, in my opinion, is the line "All other insurance products (dental, vision, life and STD) will not change on July 1st". My first thought was STD is sexually transmitted disease as I do not remember what it is. The second thought was the negative "will not change" could have been "will remain the same".

As you can see by this post, I am no expert. However, this was said to be sent by "Management". I would hope (unrealistically) that "management" were better writers than myself.

Oh well, just trying to get something started in the forum as it has been quite for a while now.

djj
The Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23) - I need someone to lead me!

 

[tcsbiz]

I don't see too many memos anymore. The one's I get are always email attachments. They seem to be written well.

I see the communications skills in business changing because younger people grew up on texting. Texting uses a type of shorthand. I think that may be influencing business writing.

I took courses in business writing in college. Do they teach those anymore?

Tom

 

[SkipVought]

The only memos I've seen in the recent past were buried on my desk in the memozoic layer.

Skip,
[sub]
Just traded in my OLD subtlety...
for a NUance![/sub]

 

[tcsbiz]

@Skip,

If you dig deep enough do you strike oil?

Tom

 

[SamBones]

...buried on my desk in the memozoic layer.

That's awesome. I'm guessing your desk is like mine. Even though it's a mess, with stacks of paper in various places, I can find anything very quickly. If anyone makes a comment about it I tell them everything is filed archeologically. The deeper you go, the older it is.

 

[2ffat]

<snarky>

I would hope (unrealistically) that "management" were better writers than myself.

"Management" used to manage to get someone else to do their work for them. Now they have PCs, "Smart" phones, PIM, ect. and don't realize that all computers use the GIGO method (Garbage In, Garbage Out).
</snarky>


James P. Cottingham
I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229!

 

[CajunCenturion]

At what point does the memo stack become the memento stack?

--------------
Good Luck
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read
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Wise men speak because they have something to say, fools because they have to say something. - Plato

 

[djj55]

As your walking out the door?

djj
The Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23) - I need someone to lead me!

 

[SkipVought]

Just the fracks, ma'am. Some guy in the next cube complained about flaming drinking water.

Skip,
[sub]
Just traded in my OLD subtlety...
for a NUance![/sub]

 

[ajh1]

I appreciate your story Skip. I had a mentor some 20 years ago who had an office with a low bookcase under a strip of windows. On the top of the bookcase he had stacks of papers about 12" high over the entire top of the bookcase. I came into his office one day looking for some specific piece of information. He thought for a moment, reached out to one stack, lifted approximately the top 2/3 of it up and pulled out the exact piece of information I needed. No apparent effort to select the right stack nor to determine how many papers to lift to get to the proper spot. When I returned the paper to him I set it on his office chair. No way was I going to attempt to return it to its original spot.

 

[SamBones]

At what point does the memo stack become the memento stack?

It's only a 'stack' (LIFO) if you only remove papers from the top. If you remove them from the bottom it's a 'queue' (FIFO).

Great story ajh1. Back when paper ruled the office, I had a coworker that also kept stacks of important papers in his office. The boss didn't like the look of it, so he made him file it all (we all had filing cabinets). A secretary (that's what they were called back then) was assigned the task of filing all his stuff. Over night he went from being the most productive member of the team, to the least! He couldn't find anything and had to rely on the secretary almost every day. I think they ended up getting married.

 

[CajunCenturion]

Since you can remove/insert items from top, bottom, or middle, it would be a heap.
So the question would be when does the memo heap become a memento heap?


--------------
Good Luck
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read
FAQ181-2886
Wise men speak because they have something to say, fools because they have to say something. - Plato

 

[SantaMufasa]

Over night he went from being the most productive member of the team...I think they ended up getting married.

At that juncture, the couple probably ended up being candidates for the most re-productive members of the team. <grin>

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
“People may forget what you say, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

 

[philhege]

My stacks of paper have disappeared into a SharePoint site. Yay.

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With business clients like mine, you'd be better off herding cats.

 

[djj55]

I can find a piece of paper faster than a file in SharePoint.

djj
The Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23) - I need someone to lead me!

 

[djj55]

Just got an email with the line "I would like to build a dialer for tom..". Now I do not know Tom, but they hire on the revolving door policy. (People come, people go.)

It turns out it means tomorrow. I am an old guy and do not keep up with tweet speak (or whatever it is called), so I had no idea until the developer who wrote the code, whom I sent the question to, said "Lucky I speak stupid."

djj
The Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23) - I need someone to lead me!

 

[ChrisHirst]

I prefer to call it 'Twit' speak

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Time flies like an arrow, however, fruit flies like a banana.
Webmaster Forum

 

[philhege]

I can find a piece of paper faster than a file in SharePoint.

Yes, but can you share that one piece of paper simultaneously with everyone who needs to see it, and have them notified automatically if you edit or add something on the paper? Can you retrieve words that you erased and show the history of the paper's evolution to current form, including who erased those words?

People who can't find anything in a SharePoint site means the site has weak SPS admins. A robust search/index component is key to any well-designed SP site.

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With business clients like mine, you'd be better off herding cats.

 

[djj55]

People who can't find anything in a SharePoint site means the site has weak SPS admins.

Or people who have never been trained working on a badly managed site.

djj
The Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23) - I need someone to lead me!

 

[johnherman]

I remember (start up the Wayback Machine Mr. Peabody

http://www.toonopedia.com/peabody.htm)

back when we had greenbar printouts. I would keep 3 of them under my desk. When the 3rd pile was full, it was time to recycle the 1st pile. That stack would be at least 3-4 months old and relatively safe to destroy. I stole it from the grandfather/father/son method of file backup from the mainframe. I did have a few piles of greenbar on my desk as well, but those were for printouts I needed frequently and/or definitely wanted to save. For those of you who are unfamiliar with greenbar, it's a large (11x15) page and not well suited for filing cabinets, so different techniques were needed (

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_stationery).

Next time we access the Wayback Machine, we'll revisit magnetic tapes, punch cards, and even preview a Winchester hard drive.

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