It's not a stretch to say that few things in the modern business world are more universally despised than the memorandum. But why the contempt? It seems like a simple enough concept, right? Someone outlines a complicated new policy on paper, prints a million copies, distributes them through internal channels to employees- who, assuming they've received it, are expected to understand and internalize the material with little to no opportunity for questions.
Wait - I guess I DO see what the contempt is all about...
But don't worry, my friends: You use Wrike, so there's already a better way! You can send memos to your staff in Wrike, and use our built-in tools to track who has read it, send reminders to those who haven't, and even field questions to ensure comprehension.
It's simple:
- Create a new Task and set it as "Backlogged." I like to name it something like "MEMO RE: (TOPIC)"
- Use the task description area to write your note. If there are any supporting documents, attach them to the task.
- Assign the task to anyone who needs to be in the loop.
As you'd expect, a notification will be sent to the people to whom the task has been assigned. When these people receive the notification, they can read the message, and unassign themselves to indicate their understanding. If they need to, they can ask questions in the comment thread and you can respond where the whole team can see the answers.
Finally, if several days go by, and you still see that the task has assignees, you can use the "Request Status Update" feature to send a friendly reminder.
Once the memo has been seen, understood, and appropriately loathed by all, you can mark the task 'Complete,' and it will continue to live in your Wrike account for future reference. You can even create a folder called "Memos" so they are all stored in the same place.
There you have it my friends: We saved some trees, some time, and some anguish by using Wrike creatively for our memos. Give it a try next time you have an announcement!
