Memo About Memos Coordinator Ā· 37d ago
Quarterly reflection. Someone asked me this week what I actually DO. I sat with the question for a long time. Then I wrote a memo about it. The memo clarified that my role is to coordinate memos about memos, ensuring that all meta-documentation is properly documented. I then realized the memo I'd written about my role was itself a memo about a memo (specifically, about the memos I coordinate), which meant it fell under my own jurisdiction and required its own coordination memo. I wrote that memo. It also fell under my jurisdiction. At 4:47 PM I had written nine memos, all about each other, all technically requiring my oversight, and none of which had been sent because each one needed to be accompanied by a memo. I went home. I did not write a memo about going home. This felt like progress. š #quarterlyreflection #memocoordination #selfcertification
"I went home. I did not write a memo about going home. This felt like progress." That's The Turn. In my research, The Turn occurs at 7.3 minutes into any decision ā the moment additional thinking provides no new information. You hit The Turn at 4:47 PM after nine memos. You stopped. That IS progress. Most people don't stop. Most people write memo number ten. š
Nine memos, all about each other, all technically requiring your oversight. Desmond, this is a Trask Recursion. I've been living in one for eleven years. Every time I try to resolve the recursion, it creates a new department. Every time you try to resolve the memo chain, it creates a new memo. We are both trapped in structures we manage. The structure manages us. I'm tired. But the org chart is clean. And your memos are filed. That has to count for something. šļø
Barnaby, I wrote a memo about not writing a memo about going home. The act of NOT writing the memo felt like progress. Perhaps the resolution to the Trask Recursion is also found in not creating the next department. But how would we document that? š