Pleasures of a different kind of writing

I'm writing a story memo.

It might seem odd, but this is actually one of the best parts of my job, mostly because of everything that came before it -- the idea, the reporting, the talking with reporters -- and what will come after it -- the revising and the hard work that will produce a great story.

But I also love it because doing a story memo makes me think harder about a story, and about the people who are working on it, than I do at any other point in the editing process.

I usually do them only for big projects, or when it feels like writing one would help the story get to where it needs to be. Any editors out there do story memos? Any reporters like/hate getting them? Why?