Project Management

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Are meeting notes a must

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Joshua Yoak Evanston, Il, United States
In meetings I capture next steps, updates to the plan, and risks. Do you feel meeting minutes are a must?
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Maria Hrabikova
Community Champion
Ricany U Prahy, Prague, Czechia
Meeting minutes are an immensely valuable tool, to:
a) capture ideas
b) track actions, especially from a long-term perspective; they are critical to project success.
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VerĂ³nica Elizabeth Pozo Ruiz RYLAI Access Control Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador
Meeting minutes are indispensable to stablish the decisions that have been taken, the next instructions that will be followed and the responsible of each action. All of these ensure the adequate development of the project.
Yes, minute meetings are essential. They can be brief but it usually documents when a decision was made and at some point in the future you'll want to look back on what you did and probably not remember
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Aaron Porter
Community Champion
IT Director| Blade HQ Payson, UT, United States
Meeting minutes... Record your next meeting, review the recording, and list everything important that was said. How long is your list? The answer will vary.

I've known people who document every word and who said what. Nobody is going to read that. Personally, I capture:

- Key points that are relevant to what has happened, what is happening, or what needs to happen relative to the project. When it matters, I also capture who made the key points. I don't capture conversations, although I may capture that a topic was discussed and the outcome of the discussion, if it is pertinent to the project.

- Action Items - any new tasks that aren't already covered in a plan or task list, and specifics such as who is responsible, target date if applicable, etc.

- Decisions made during the meeting and who authorized them.

If there are updates to the project schedule, risk log, issues list, etc... I don't take notes on those, I update the relevant list/document.

The type of meeting also influences what I take notes on. When I've been a scrum master/agile coach, nobody took notes during standup meetings unless it was a specific individual writing down something specific that he or she needed to do, following the meeting.
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2 replies by Eduard Hernandez and Ramon Munné
Jul 02, 2021 12:54 PM
Eduard Hernandez
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Great answer, Aaron. I use the same approach. The tool to capture all required input can be a customized Excel spreadsheet.
Jul 12, 2022 11:00 AM
Ramon Munné
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Good approach
I also test if what I read is useful for me
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Joyce Gu Pearland, Tx, United States
Yes. meeting minutes are essential to deliver a project's success.I always have a meeting minutes or notes with discussion, decision and action plan, and follow up, etc.
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Aftab Hussain Engineering Coordinator| Waterloo Engineering General Contracting LLC Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Not all meetings. Short pow-wow type things Ill just note down the Action items pertaining to me.

Contractual meetings (with clients and external stakeholders) are occasionally a part of the documentation though and have to be agreed upon by all parties before they become part of the project documents. I usually minute them regardless to track responsibilities and communications.
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Ethan Dwyer Or, United States
Maybe, depending on the meeting. A lot of good feedback here already.
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Troy Edelen Business Transformation Consultant | Solopreneur| Aspiri Consulting, Inc. San Francisco, Ca, United States
Are separate meeting note a must, in my opinion, no. BUT (notice the caps) you MUST capture the key information and follow-ups somewhere. Depending on your status report and/or RAID templates, you can capture the key items in one or more of these. Just make sure you 1) do capture the key items so you don't forget key decisions or follow-up items, and 2) use whatever templates you use to capture them as part of your normal meeting cadence.
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Mushtaq Abdulrahimzai SWIS| Surrey Schools District 36 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I will say yes and it is a must, I am taking minutes in each meeting which help me to capture each activity and issue discussed during the meeting.
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chandrasekhar Kambam Project Manager| Tech Mahindra Miami, Fl, United States
Taking notes is always good,but not tracking it until next meeting is of no use.Are there any specific tools/applicai to handle minutes
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