In-House Memo Reports Reporting to Colleagues

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In-House Memo ReportsReporting to Colleagues

• The Cain Project in Engineering and
• Professional Communication
• ENGINEERING SERIES

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Reporting to Colleagues

• Audience of colleagues has background relatively
  similar to yours
• Audience is familiar with the situation
• You apply expertise by analyzing a problem or
  answering a question for them

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Technical Colleagues Care about

• Your conclusions
• Implications for the project
• Quality of evidence
• Type of models you used
• Limitations of your analysis
• Need for future or additional work

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Colleague Knowledge Affects Information
Selection, Detail

• Indicate situation through introductory headings,
  title, project number, and so on
• Give brief signals of what you were asked to do
• Put your answer in the title or first paragraph
• For example
• Recycling filtrate will increase recovery and
  profits.

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Plan by Imagining Your Colleagues Questions

• Why was your work necessary?
• What task did you perform?
• What are your conclusions and recommendations?

• How does your technical work justify these
  conclusions? (Calculations? Application of a
  model? Data gathering?)
• What are the costs and implementation issues?
• Any limitations, exceptions?

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Structure Memo Report Efficiently
OVERVIEW SECTION (20-25)
DISCUSSION SECTION (75)

• Headings establish context
• Brief statement of work requested and done
• Conclusions and recommendation (if any)
• Main reason to accept recommendation

• Evidence organized by importance or relevance
• NOT I did X, I did Y, then Z . . .
• Use figures to sum up work done
• Costs (if relevant)
• Limitations or work needed
• Offer to answer questions or provide additional
  information,
• Appendices

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What Details Make Your Work Understandable to
Peers?

• Types of support material
• Your analysis of data
• Your calculations
• Examples
• Expert Testimony
• Criteria for evaluating sources
• Relevant to primary questions?
• Recent?
• Credible?
• Biased?

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Use Evidence Familiar to Engineers

• Tables / graphs / photos / diagrams/ schematic /
  cross-sections / other technical drawings
• Water treatment example

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Organize Memos for Efficiency

• Use rich (high content) subject lines
• Help reader separate one memo from another on the
  same project
• Allow fast reader to glean crucial details
• Most valuable info first, least valuable at end
• Reader is not obliged to finish reading memo
• Put in details of action needed early

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Evaluate Your Memo

• Accessibility
• Important info in subject line, first paragraphs?
• Subheads to guide reading?
• Organized from necessary to supporting
  information?
• Comprehensibility
• Sufficient info to take action?

• Usability
• Appropriate info for purpose (for example,
  meeting date, place, etc.)
• Right type of technical info?
• Interpersonal / Intercultural Effectiveness
• Tone appropriate for relationship?

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Lead through Excellence in Engineering
Communication

• More resources are available for you
• under Engineering Communication at Connexions
  at http//cnx.org
• at the Cain Project site at http//www.owlnet.rice
  .edu/cainproj
• in your course Communication Folder in OWLSPACE.