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Decision Memos and Written Operating Culture Series #8: When to Write a Memo, Update, FAQ, or ADR

Written operating culture fails when every problem gets the same document. A company discovers memos, decides writing is good, and suddenly every issue receives a long narrative. That is not discipline. It is artifact confusion. Different work needs different written forms. A decision memo helps choose among options. An update
3 min read Free

Decision Memos and Written Operating Culture Series #7: Decision Logs and Organizational Memory

The value of a decision memo does not end when the decision is made. In many cases, the bigger value appears months later, when the company needs to remember why it chose a path, what it knew at the time, and what it promised to review. Without that memory, organizations
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Decision Memos and Written Operating Culture Series #6: Commenting, Dissent, and Review Without Politics

The comment thread is where written operating culture either becomes useful or turns political. A memo invites review, but review is not automatically healthy. Comments can clarify evidence, reveal risk, and sharpen options. They can also become status games, late-stage vetoes, vague anxiety, or public performance. Good review needs rules.
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Decision Memos and Written Operating Culture Series #5: Decision Rights: Who Actually Decides?

A decision memo without decision rights is a collaboration artifact. It may create discussion, collect comments, and document context, but it may not produce a decision. Many companies confuse broad input with authority. The memo circulates, everyone reacts, and nobody knows who can actually say yes, no, not yet, or
4 min read Free

Decision Memos and Written Operating Culture Series #4: Evidence, Assumptions, and Confidence

A polished memo can make weak evidence look stronger than it is. That is one of the main risks of written operating culture. The artifact feels serious, the paragraphs flow, the recommendation sounds calm, and the organization mistakes narrative confidence for decision confidence. Good memos separate evidence, assumptions, and confidence.
4 min read Free

Decision Memos and Written Operating Culture Series #3: Options, Tradeoffs, and the Cost of Saying Yes

Most bad decisions are not made because nobody considered the preferred option. They are made because the company never took the alternatives seriously. A team argues for a launch, a hire, a platform, a pricing change, or a reorg, but the memo quietly treats every other path as obviously worse.
4 min read Free

Decision Memos and Written Operating Culture Series #2: A Decision Memo Is a Thinking Tool

A decision memo is often misunderstood as a persuasive document. Someone has a preferred answer, writes a polished argument, and uses the memo to get approval. That can be useful when the thinking is already strong. It is dangerous when the memo becomes a way to make a half-formed answer
3 min read Free

Decision Memos and Written Operating Culture Series #1: Written Operating Culture Is Decision Infrastructure

Written operating culture is not about making companies write more. Most organizations already produce too many documents and too many meeting notes. The problem is that much of that writing does not improve decisions. It records activity, protects politics, or gives people something to point at after the fact. Useful
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