Inside Nitti’s Do This Memo: What You Need to KnowNitti’s “Do This Memo” has circulated widely among professionals and on industry forums as a concise set of recommendations intended to change how teams approach priority-setting, execution, and accountability. Whether you’ve only heard the phrase in passing or you’ve read the memo itself, this article explains the memo’s main ideas, the practical implications for organizations, common misinterpretations, and how to implement its guidance without losing context.
What the memo is (and isn’t)
At its core, Nitti’s Do This Memo is a prescriptive leadership note: a short document that tells teams what to prioritize and how leaders expect work to be done. It’s not a comprehensive strategy blueprint, not a legal document, and not a one-size-fits-all recipe. Instead, it reads like a leader’s playbook distilled into actionable directives — designed to shift behavior quickly.
Key characteristics:
- Concise, directive language focused on action.
- Priority-driven: highlights a small number of high-impact activities.
- Accountability emphasis: assigns clear owners and timelines.
- Often contains examples or templates to speed adoption.
Main themes and recommendations
The memo typically emphasizes several overlapping themes. Below are the common ones and what they mean in practice.
- Clear priorities: Limit focus to a few objectives that move the needle. Practically, this means cutting low-impact work and saying “no” more often.
- Owner accountability: Every priority has a named owner responsible for outcomes, not just tasks.
- Fast feedback loops: Implement short cycles for experimentation and measurement rather than long multi-month projects without checkpoints.
- Simpler decisions: Use rules and guardrails so teams can decide quickly without escalations for routine choices.
- Explicit success metrics: Define numeric targets or qualitative outcomes that indicate success.
- Communication cadence: Set a predictable rhythm — weekly check-ins, sprint reviews, or status dashboards — so everyone knows progress and obstacles.
Why leaders use directive memos
Directives like Nitti’s memo are attractive because they reduce ambiguity. In fast-moving environments, clarity about who does what and when reduces wasted effort and misaligned initiatives. The memo format also signals urgency and commitment from leadership, which can accelerate adoption.
Benefits commonly observed:
- Faster alignment across teams.
- Clearer prioritization that reduces busywork.
- Better traceability of decisions and accountability.
- More rapid learning through short feedback cycles.
Potential downsides and misuses
While effective when used appropriately, directive memos can backfire if mishandled.
Common pitfalls:
- Over-centralization: If every decision is made top-down, you may stifle local ownership and creativity.
- Misapplied templates: Directives that aren’t adapted to context can produce poor outcomes.
- Lack of buy-in: If owners feel mandated without consultation, they may comply superficially without genuine commitment.
- Measurement fixation: Overemphasis on metrics can encourage gaming numbers rather than solving root problems.
Avoid these by pairing directives with context, rationale, and opportunity for feedback.
How to implement the memo’s guidance (practical steps)
- Translate priorities into a short roadmap (1–3 objectives for the quarter).
- Assign a single owner to each objective and define their decision authority.
- Set 2–3 measurable success metrics for each objective (leading and lagging indicators).
- Create weekly or biweekly check-ins focused only on progress and blockers.
- Use short experiments (1–4 weeks) to test assumptions; treat failures as learning.
- Publish a one-page status that summarizes objective, owner, metric, and current risk.
- Encourage upward and lateral feedback; revise priorities when evidence suggests.
Examples (hypothetical)
-
Objective: Increase free-to-paid conversion by 20% in 90 days.
- Owner: Growth PM — authority to modify onboarding flows and pricing tests.
- Metrics: conversion rate (lagging), trial-to-day-7 engagement (leading).
- Experiments: three onboarding flows A/B tested over four weeks.
-
Objective: Reduce customer support response time to hours.
- Owner: Support Lead — authority to reprioritize staffing and introduce automation.
- Metrics: median response time, CSAT.
- Experiments: chatbot triage vs manual triage for common queries.
Common misinterpretations to watch for
- “Do This Memo” is not an order to remove all discretionary work — it’s a prioritization tool.
- It’s not a blame memo; when used well it clarifies expectations and provides support.
- It’s not permanent. Treat it as a quarterly or situation-specific instrument, not the organization’s entire operating model.
When to issue a directive memo
Use a directive memo when:
- Rapid clarity is needed (e.g., product-market shifts, resource constraints).
- You need cross-functional alignment on a small set of outcomes.
- There’s a behavioral problem caused by ambiguity or competing priorities.
Avoid issuing one when the organization requires broad input for strategic decisions that benefit from wide consultation.
Measuring success of the memo itself
Track whether the memo improved outcomes, not just whether tasks were completed:
- Did the named objectives meet their targets? (yes/no + magnitude)
- Was time-to-decision reduced on routine items? (qualitative + quantitative)
- Did cross-team blockers decline? (meeting counts, escalations logged)
- What learning occurred from experiments launched because of the memo?
Final thoughts
Nitti’s “Do This Memo” works best as a targeted instrument: short, focused, and paired with clear measurement and dialogue. When applied thoughtfully it can cut through ambiguity and accelerate impact; when applied without context it risks alienating teams or producing surface-level compliance. Use it to set direction, empower owners, and iterate quickly — but also stay open to feedback and course-correct.
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