Memo-to-Decision Workflow
Debate asynchronously in writing, then use meetings to finalize decisions
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 99%
Replace presentation-led decision meetings with a written memo and an asynchronous comment period. The owner documents the strategic reasoning, supporting evidence, alternatives, and unresolved questions in a shared artifact. Participants review it on their own schedule and add feedback directly to the document, giving quieter or remote colleagues an equal opportunity to contribute. The live meeting then focuses only on substantive disagreements and unanswered questions rather than replaying information already available. The group resolves those points and explicitly ships decisions, owners, and next actions. This produces a durable record of both the reasoning and the outcome while making synchronous time shorter and more valuable.
Origin
Extracted from Marketing Against The Grain. The hosts describe HubSpot's use of a memo practice associated with Amazon as particularly effective for remote work.
Core principles
- 01Writing exposes the substance of strategic thinking
- 02Asynchronous comments let more people participate
- 03Meetings should resolve disagreements rather than transmit information
- 04Every discussion should end in explicit decisions
How to run it
- 1
Draft the Memo
Write the context, objective, evidence, assumptions, alternatives, and proposed direction in a shared document.
Pro tip Make the reasoning understandable without a spoken presentation.
Watch out A memo that merely reproduces slide headlines will not generate deeper review.
- 2
Open Asynchronous Review
Give participants enough time to read and add questions, objections, and suggested changes directly in the document.
Pro tip Ask reviewers to comment before the meeting rather than saving every thought for the call.
Watch out Do not invite feedback so late that meaningful consideration is impossible.
- 3
Map the Debates
Group comments into resolved questions, factual corrections, and genuine decision points.
Pro tip Resolve straightforward clarifications asynchronously.
Watch out Do not spend synchronous time revisiting points where participants already agree.
- 4
Finalize Live
Use the meeting to debate unresolved trade-offs and make the necessary decisions.
Pro tip Name the decision being sought before discussing each issue.
Watch out Discussion without a decision rule can continue indefinitely.
- 5
Ship the Record
Update the memo with final decisions, owners, deadlines, and any remaining risks.
Pro tip Treat the final memo as the authoritative record.
Watch out Unpublished outcomes force absent colleagues to reconstruct decisions from hearsay.
In the wild
A launch lead writes a memo comparing three go-to-market options and opens it for comments. Finance corrects an assumption, sales flags a channel risk, and marketing proposes a revised option. The meeting addresses only the two unresolved trade-offs and closes with a chosen plan and named owners.
→ The team reaches a documented decision with broader participation and less meeting time.
Common mistakes
Presenting the Memo Aloud
Reading the document during the meeting recreates the passive presentation model the workflow is meant to replace.
Leaving Comments Unresolved
Collecting extensive feedback without identifying and settling the actual debates creates documentation but not decisions.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for strategic, cross-functional, or consequential decisions that benefit from reflection before live discussion.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for emergencies that require immediate action or simple updates that need no debate.
From the transcript
“memo in versus presentations, like memo versus presentation.”
“Everyone can participate in giving you feedback because you open it up, allow people to give you commentary”
“within the meeting, you ship a decisions, right? Like here are all the things that we had debates on within the document. Let's kind of…”
From the episode
Why Malcolm Gladwell is Wrong about Remote Work