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12.3: The Technical Memo

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    142471

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    13.3 The Technical Memo — Structure and Standards

    ENGINEERING MEMORANDUM

    To: [Recipient name / title]
    From: [Your name]
    Date: [Date]
    Subject: [Specific topic — one line]

    A professional engineering memo has six sections:

    Required sections of a professional engineering memo.
    Section What it contains Common failure
    1. Purpose What system, what question, what constraints "This memo is about the circuit" — no scope
    2. Background Physical system, parameters, governing relationships, assumptions Assumptions missing or buried later
    3. Methodology Equations used, tools used, parameter ranges, simplifications "I used Excel" — not replicable
    4. Results Key numbers, labeled graphs, summary tables Graphs without axis labels or units
    5. Analysis Interpretation: is the result reasonable, what does it mean, are thresholds exceeded? Just restates results without meaning
    6. Conclusion Specific decision, justification, limitations, next steps "The results look okay" — not a conclusion

    Weak vs. strong writing, section by section

    Examples of weak and strong technical memo writing.
    Section Weak Strong
    Purpose "This memo is about the cable car project." "This memo presents the cable car velocity model, evaluates peak velocity, identifies regime transition points, and compares Excel and MATLAB implementations."
    Methodology "I used Excel to calculate velocities." "Velocity was computed using two piecewise equations in 5-ft increments from 0 to 500 ft. Excel IF/IFS functions applied the appropriate equation at each step."
    Analysis "Velocity increases near the middle." "Peak velocity of 10.5 ft/s occurs at d = 250 ft, 47% above the near-tower minimum of 7.2 ft/s, consistent with the parabolic mid-cable model."
    Conclusion "The power is 0.436 W." "The 330 Ω, 0.25 W resistor is unsafe at 12 V — dissipation of 0.436 W exceeds the rating by 74%. A 0.5 W or higher rated component is required."
    ⚠ Watch Out — The Five Most Common Memo Errors
    1. Vague Purpose — "This memo discusses the circuit" is not a scope.
    2. Missing assumptions — buried in Methodology or absent entirely.
    3. Results without analysis — presenting 0.436 W without stating it exceeds the 0.25 W rating by 74%.
    4. Unlabeled graphs — a graph without axis labels and units is not an engineering figure.
    5. Conclusion that restates results — "The power is 0.436 W" is a result. A conclusion states what that means and what should be done.

    This page titled 12.3: The Technical Memo was last modified on Thu, 24 Sep 2026 17:38:13 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-NC license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by .

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