Igor ZdorovyakDirector of Projects| ImmunovantFair Lawn, Nj, United States
Can Taking Notes During A Meeting Be A Mistake?
We all took notes during our school days. We graduated and took this habit to our work lives. Now it’s time to break this habit as we go up in our ranks.
As a Project Manager it’s your to make sure that you keep things on track and making sure everyone do what they supposed to do. You lead meetings, you create agenda items, you prepare meeting minutes, you update project plan, you keeping an eye on milestones and dependencies, you update issues and action items and risk logs.
As you go up the ranks engaging stakeholders in a personal manner becomes more important.
During one of the Board meetings one of the executive came over asking why I was on the computer when she was discussing her agenda items. I quickly realized from her point of view it looked like I was not paying attention, being disrespectful. I apologies and explained that I was actually taking notes of what she was saying. And stated that going forward I would be taking notes on a paper so as not to give impression that I was playing Solitary. The next meeting the same executive gave me a notebook. Probably realizing that she might have overblown the whole situation. Because the notebook was full of Sudoku puzzles. We both laughed.
Ideally a scribe, a person taking meeting minutes, would be in a meeting. If that is not an option announce that you will be taking meeting minutes. Saving Changes...
Dinah YoungProject Manager / Software Asset Manager| Prince William CountySpringfield, Va, United States
People laugh at me when I take a notebook and pen to a meeting. Call me old school. I will take a computer sometimes but that is usually so that I can pull up a document or verify information being shared. But I use good old pen and paper to write down notes and thoughts throughout a meeting.
We usually have more than one person capturing notes during a meeting and then compare afterwards. This is in case you get caught up in what is saying a forget to write it in your notes. Or you just missed something.
Funny thing is, I rarely took notes during my school days. Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
I also bring notebook and pen/pencil to meetings. I actually rarely bring my laptop with me at all unless necessary for presentation, etc. Saving Changes...
Prefiero llevar un cuaderno para anotar lo más importante de la reunión, es flexible y práctico, el usar laptop o computadora daría la impresión de no atender la reunión, además llegas a perder los momentos expresivos de las personas que participas, algunas veces te pierdes hasta las bromas. Saving Changes...
Katherine ZampolinBusiness Development Manager| International Consulting Services LLCRichmond, Va, United States
Unless I am presenting, I only bring pen and pad to a meeting. The "clicking" of keys when taking notes on a laptop can be very distracting, and can make others wonder - is she taking notes, or checking her email? Saving Changes...
A few studies have shown that handwritten notes are superior to typed in ones as you parse and curate what you hear more when handwriting and the act of handwriting itself creates better medium term memory.
However, when I am doing 1:1 meetings, I will always ask permission first to ensure that it won't be distracting or won't offend my counterpart...
Kiron Saving Changes...
Dinah YoungProject Manager / Software Asset Manager| Prince William CountySpringfield, Va, United States
Several people in the office, now have Surface Pro's that they bring to every meeting. They often take notes with the pen and if they do clink the keys there is no noise. I still think they overdo it and they do other work as well during the meetings. Saving Changes...
John DuncanRetired| RetiredLebanon, Tn, United States
We went through a phase where everyone brought their tablets to meetings. Later the tablets fell out of favor, and people started bringing laptops. I was strongly encouraged to always bring my laptop during this phase. So I did. But still took notes on paper... :-)
Most of the meeting rooms have a large monitor and an hdmi connection in the middle of the table, so the laptop is handy sometimes to ad-hoc show a document on screen. But 90% of the time I leave the laptop at my desk.
Fortunately the phase of "everyone bring your laptops" has gotten back to normal. A few people use them all the time, and if that works for them, great. :-) But pen and paper works best for me.
And I definitely need to take notes (in general), to keep things straight for me, between multiple projects and groups, and to make sure key items aren't missed or forgotten about. Saving Changes...
Elizabeth HarrinDirector| RebelsGuideToPM.comLondon, England, United Kingdom
I think this has to depend on the culture of your office. I do take my own notes, normally on paper. We don't have any spare resources to come to my meetings and take notes for me, plus when that has happened they haven't recorded what I wanted them to note down. I have used my laptop to write the minutes as we go during a meeting, but I find they need a lot of editing and it doesn't usually save that much time. However, on the project I am working on at the moment, every minute counts so it is more helpful. My preference is still paper, though. Saving Changes...
If I am the meeting organizer, I take notes on the meeting agenda page(s). Not only does this help when I do the Meeting Recap, but having the agenda in front of me helps make sure that the meeting stays focused on the topics that are scheduled to be discussed or decided.
I also take a pen and pad to other meetings. Saving Changes...
Anish AbrahamPrivacy Program Manager| University of WashingtonAuburn, Wa, United States
I always take notes, and I think it really helps. Saving Changes...
