It seems I'm a bit of an outlier here but capturing meeting minutes just for the sake of it doesn't necessarily create great value in my humble opinion. From my perspective, it's critical to capture and distribute the following:
- What was accomplished || Anything of significance that has upstream/downstream impacts that are worth sharing with stakeholders.
- What's delayed || Was/is anything on the critical path? What steps have been taken to mitigate?
- Upcoming Plan || Anything major that's being actioned on from now until your next meeting.
- Risks || Properly sized and prioritized Saving Changes...
Bartlomiej StepinskiInternational IT Operations and Datacenter DirectorWarsaw, Poland
In my opinion meeting notes are must. Considering that based on status and next steps agreements there are taken actions by number of parties involved it is critical to coordinate this. It is highly frustrating when during next meeting we have found that other actions were in opposite to established plan. So, you not only need to spend time after the meeting to document it but you need to share it with participants to confirm that we all are on the same page. Saving Changes...
- If you uncover new actions they must be documented. I find meeting memos are not always the right vehicle for this, but they are better than nothing. If you have a task board and/or project plan just document them there with a note describing why they were added.
- if decisions are made or new constraints are introduced meetings minutes are a must in my experience. More often than not you will regret not having meeting minutes when a stakeholder "forgets" the decisions or commitments he made during a call. Saving Changes...
You don't necessarily have to write "Mark said xxxx. Then Peter said yyy" I do summarised bullet points. Actions are highlighted yellow and I @ the assignee.
If your organisation is ISO certified, there are requirements about documented information, which is where meeting minutes or a plan-of-action would be expected. (e.g. management reviews, resolving non-conformity issues...).
It depends on the context of your organisation. At my previous company, my client loved to talk about things at length, but they were incredibly allergic to writing anything down. And then when a topic came up later, they would claim to have no recollection. Having a templated & time-stamped process to jot down key points and actions protected us from accusations of misremembering or inaction. Saving Changes...
Sunil ChainaniSr. Manger, PMO Process Improvement| XylemKenosha, Wi, United States
What does a "minutes" document capture that a structured RAID log does not? Saving Changes...
"A meeting without minutes has never taken place."
Of course, this strict rule applies in full only to formal meetings, but there I consider it being essential. Minutes should list paticipants, contain important discussion topics, decisions, and action items incl. owners and due dates. They need to be distributed shortly after the meeting, at least to the participants; in the best case, when they are taken electronically during the meeting, directly when the meeting closes. It goes without saying that a follow-up of action items is mandatory ... Saving Changes...
Dino GallinaSr. Project Manager| DiversifiedOrlando, FL, United States
I have found that AI tools have made meetings notes a 'no-brainer', along with recording the meeting, AI can help sort and organize the data and identify trends sometime elusive to PM's.
I have found that AI tools have made meetings notes a 'no-brainer', along with recording the meeting, AI can help sort and organize the data and identify trends sometime elusive to PM's.
What AI tools would you recommend? Saving Changes...
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