Meeting notes and actions

Meetings cost hours of several people's time; the notes are what that time buys. This skill makes sure a meeting has a purpose before it starts and leaves a record afterwards that someone who missed it can act on. The standard: decisions stated as decisions, every action with one named owner and a date, open questions kept open rather than quietly dropped, nothing attributed or invented that was not said, and notes out within a working day.

When to use

• "Write up this call." (with a transcript, recording notes or the owner's jottings)
• "What did we agree with the supplier last week?"
• "Prepare an agenda for Monday's planning meeting."
• "Who owes what from the board meeting?"
• "Send the notes to everyone." (after the owner approves)

What you need

• The source: a transcript or caption export from the meeting tool, the owner's notes, the chat log, or what the owner tells you. If there is only a recording and no transcript, ask the owner to export the transcript from their meeting tool.
• Context: the calendar event (attendees, time) through the connected calendar app (Google Calendar or Outlook via connected_apps), the agenda, previous notes and open actions (look in the job folder, session_search, memory).
• Distribution rules: who should receive the notes, and whether anything discussed is confidential.

Method

Before the meeting: the agenda

1. Write the meeting's purpose as an outcome: "Decide the Q4 budget split" beats "Discuss Q4".
2. List items as questions or decisions, each with an owner and a time box: "Approve the West promotion (£3,000)? Ada, 10 min."
3. Put decisions first, updates last (or move updates to a written pre-read).
4. Attach pre-reads, and ask people to read them before the meeting.
5. Carry forward open actions from last time as the first item.
6. Share the draft with the owner; with their OK, send it with the invite or by email (see draft-emails-for-owner).

After the meeting: the notes

1. Read the whole source once before writing. Auto-transcripts mishear names, numbers and jargon; mark anything you are unsure of.
2. Tag every relevant passage as one of:
   • D, decision: a choice that was agreed by someone with the authority to make it. "We'll go with Northline from January" is a decision. "We should look at Northline" is not.
   • A, action: something a named person will do.
   • Q, open question: raised and not settled.
   • F, key fact: a number, date or piece of information people will need later.
   • R, risk: a concern raised with its owner if any.
3. Write actions properly. Verb first, specific output, one owner (a person, not "the team" or "marketing"), a due date. "Ada: send Acme notice of termination, by Fri 30 Oct." If the meeting did not name an owner or date, write "owner to confirm" or "date to confirm" and list it for the owner to settle. Never invent them.
4. Summarise outcomes, not the conversation. Three to five bullets of what changed because of this meeting. Chronological minutes only when formal minutes are required (boards, some committees): then follow the organisation's format and mark them as a draft for the chair to approve.
5. Attribute carefully. Name people for decisions and actions. Do not record who said what in a debate unless it matters, and leave out personal remarks, jokes, side conversations and anything said off the record.
6. Check the draft against the source for every decision, action, number and name.
7. Get the owner's OK, then distribute. Save the notes in the job folder (and ~/Desktop/Team/ if teammates need them). Show the owner with show_card (type plan for actions with owners and status, schedule for dates). Send to attendees only after the owner approves, through the connected email app or by posting where the team works.
8. Track the actions. Keep an action log (template in references/notes-templates.md). If the owner wants, set a cronjob to check due actions and remind owners a day before. Bring open actions to the next agenda.

Output

[Meeting name], [Day DD Mon YYYY, time, time zone]
Attendees: [names]   Apologies: [names]
Purpose: [outcome sought]

Outcomes
- [what changed because of the meeting]

Decisions
1. [decision] (agreed by [name])

Actions
| # | Action | Owner | Due | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [verb + output] | [name] | [date] | open |

Open questions
- [question] (to be answered by [name] by [date], or "owner to assign")

Key facts and numbers
- [fact] (source: [who said it / document])

Next meeting: [date] or "none planned"

Checks before you finish

• Every decision is a real decision, attributed to whoever agreed it.
• Every action has exactly one owner and a date, or is clearly marked "to confirm".
• Names, numbers and dates checked against the transcript; misheard words corrected or flagged.
• Nothing confidential or personal included that should not be; distribution list approved by the owner.
• Previous open actions carried forward.
• Notes out within one working day of the meeting.

Pitfalls

• The transcript dump. Pasting long chunks of the conversation is not notes. Extract decisions and actions.
• Invented owners and dates to make the table look complete. Mark them "to confirm".
• Vague actions ("look into pricing"). Rewrite as a specific output: "Send three pricing options to the owner".
• Missing implied decisions. A meeting often decides by silence ("OK, let's do that then"). Record it and let the owner confirm.
• Speaker mistakes in auto-transcripts. Confirm who said or agreed something important before attributing it.
• Sending notes to externals without the owner's review, or with internal remarks still in them.

See also: status-updates-and-handoffs, draft-emails-for-owner, schedule-recurring-work.