We spoke about information notes.
We spoke about quick notes.
Let’s talk about meeting notes today.
Meeting notes are a bit of a special case of quick notes, but there’s some extra detail to think about.
The point of meeting notes is to make sure all attendees and interested parties are on the same page with regards to what they discussed and decided in the meeting, and who’s taking what action.
Here’s how I’d go about it.
I use rapid logging to take the notes. If the meeting is in person, I tend to use paper and pen (I find open-laptop meetings so incredibly annoying). If it’s remote, a text file works great and saves me the rewriting after the meeting.
Before the Meeting
I start with titling the page (or the doc) with the date of the meeting and the meeting title.
If I know the agenda beforehand, I’ll fold it in the doc, putting down the expected outline of the meeting.
I might then, in each relevant section, add a task for myself to bring up a something or make a point. That way I won’t forget.
Finally, I’ll pull out the list of invited people and write that down. Then, as people show up I’ll underline who is present.
I’m not doing this to keep tabs on people, but so that I can make sure I send the notes to the right people, and have the right context if I need to follow up.
This typically takes less than five minutes, and I’ll just do it while waiting for everyone to show up.
During the meeting
During the meeting, I put down:
- critical or interesting information
- decisions taken
- actions items (and who’s got the action assigned, and by when it is expected)
- open questions/follow up items
That’s it. No fluff is required. This way, you can manage to actually “be in the meeting” and not just take notes.
After the meeting
Ok, you’re almost done.
If you wrote this on paper, you’ll need to type it down in a notes file (though some people just scan the notes or take a picture, and share that, I find typing the notes helpful for my learning, and to keep a record of them).
If you’ve taken the notes digitally already, no typing for you. However, you still should reorder stuff using “copy and paste”.
I’ll add at the top of the file a section called “Decisions” and one called “Action Items” where I’ll copy (not move) respectively the decisions and the actions we took in the meeting.
Then, I’ll hit “reply all” on the meeting invite, paste my notes in, add an appropriate subject (e.g. “Team Ops Meeting 2023-02-24” or something), and hit send.
That’s it!
You now have a track record of decisions, useful information, and action items (with accountable owners) that can drive the whole team’s work in the right direction more easily.
Let me know if you start volunteering as the note taker in your meetings.