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Harvard Teaches Memos - Austin Oldroyd - Coggle Diagram
Harvard Teaches Memos - Austin Oldroyd
Practicioner Insight
Jasjeet Ajimal
Fully understand who you're writing to, their goals and scope
Define how it connects to the organization
Create a policy roadmap to outline milestones
Define the policy vision, how it will support the organization's efforts
Formulate a knowledge base, so everyone is an expert
Have a plan and keep everyone engaged
Edward Figueroa
The product must be clear and concise, so it can tell the story for you
Clearly communicate the product to the boss
Listen to what your boss says AND how they say it
Mike Firestone
The memo should focus on the key recommendations and decisions
Clearly state why the policy is needed
Include a concise background
Detail the next steps
Articles should be with the memo, not what the memo is
Ask yourself 2-4 possible questions and answer them
Dan Koh
Clearly distill the question at hand within a page
Use concise bullet points and bold key passages for easy, quick reading
Avoid ambiguity, and don't confuse the reader
Start with a summary and reccomendations of the issue
Ann Hardman
Clearly state the message at the beginning
Group like ideas together
Start each paragraph with a main-idea sentence
adhere to standard formatting, and correct errors
Abigail Linnington
Use simple, precise language
Avoid redundancy and unnescessary description
Put the bottom line up front
Organize the information in a logical progression
Separate facts and objective analysis from subjective assessment and recommendations
Nick Sinai
Avoid jargon and acronyms
Be clar about the goals
Have powerful hooks
Use concrete examples and statistics
Use white space, bullets, bolding, underlining
Be short
Examples of Real Memos
to President Ford from National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft
The Soviets resumed testing anti-satellite weapons during the Space Race
"The Soviets are doing this, so we need to do this" is the first thing that is stated, trying to push ford to understand that we need to change something
The tone is formal and seems neutral, while also clearly stating a point
This memo bullet points certain topics while keeping everything else in regular, not indented, paragraphs
The memo just says the organization that is being talked about to cite sources
There is summary when describing what The Soviets are doing about ASATs
Ukraine: The Budapest Memorandum of 1994
Ukraine joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons - the problem
The memo starts by addressing who they are talking to, then explains what they need to consider before reading ahead
The tone is very direct, stating principles that need to be agreed upon for the memo to be applicable. Addresses who it concerns in multiple bullet points
Many policies are adressed simply, then by a quick summary about what it entails
They break down each criteria with numbered points
From: Winston Churchill, To: The War Cabinet
Research reports are too long is the problems being adrressed here
Long reports waste time and eergy - "So what/Who cares?"
Establishes a sense of relation in the first couple sentences like an "we're in this together"
The tone is informative, trying to give advice, but also seems blunt
Numbers what the people need to do. Uses short, simple sentences, explains any questions or concerns that could arise
"Removing Barriers to Mental Health Services in Ohio"
The problem of barriers to mental health services in Ohio are being raised
The COVID 19 pandemic threatens physical and mental health, and this increase in mental illness require more treatment from therapists - the "so what?"/"Who Cares?"
The first sentence states that "Ohio should permanently remove barriers that prevent out-of-state mental health professionals
from treating Ohioans and practicing here"
Ohio has created temporary policies for Ohioans to get out-of-state teletherapy, but it should be periminen - "They Say/ I Say"
Very fast, bolded red terms for main topics within the writing, vs bolded black terms for subheadings
There is summary when using some of their outside sources, and when talking about the pandemic. Also summarizes what has been done
The writer has three sections separated by the subheadings, two with a couple sentences that outline the direct point, then one big passage in the middle to show the evidence
There isn't any formal citation, just the name of the person or organization and what they stand for