I had to ask this question as it is something I noticed about my way of managing projects recently and wanted to see what other approaches people use.
I noted that I take very thorough minutes in meetings and record as much as possible e.g. attendees, actions, detailed notes, risks & issues. I have in the past just recorded actions but not sure if that is at all suitable.
Recently I was told by one of my key stakeholders that the records we have from discussions were 'beautiful & efficient' but then how much is too much and how much is too little?
Elizabeth HarrinDirector| RebelsGuideToPM.comLondon, England, United Kingdom
I think it depends on what you want to get out of the record keeping. Sometimes I have recorded the discussion topics, but mostly meetings are a forum for getting updates on actions so recording actions and decisions is all that is required. Don't do paperwork for the sake of it. If it's useful to you to have detailed minutes for legal reasons, or because your stakeholders keep changing their minds, then do it. But otherwise, do the minimum required! Saving Changes...
You are doing just fine! if it is not broken don't fix it - as your key stakeholders have provided feedback that your are efficient and they are happy in what you are producing - it demonstrates that you are managing meetings in a controlled way. As for minute taking, note down the decisions agreed, actions derived and actions assigned and yes you do need to note potential risks and issues that may impact your project, update the RAID [Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Risks] log. Saving Changes...
Peter WrightProgramme Manager| BAE SystemsSouthport, Merseyside, United Kingdom
As per the last two posts. If you can continue to cope with the overhead of capturing and managing the detailed minutes then why stop.
I have had this same problem and found within the business I was working they did not want nor read detailed minutes and the overhead+workload meant I had to reduce this to key actions/decisions/statements as a summary of the discussions.
Not wanting it to sound like a catch all but you have to tailor it to the project and business you are working in and on at the time.
You can never really have too much, it depends on how easily information can be found and understood in the detail information / adversely understood if too much has been omitted as this can create assumptions around what the minute means.
Saving Changes...
Bruce LoflandSoftware Developer| SprintLenexa, Ks, United States
I track attendance, action items, decisions, and summarize any relevant discussions. I also photograph the white board with the camera on my phone and attach those pictures to the minutes for reference.
The discussion summary of a one hour meeting is usually 5 or 6 bullet points. I know the minutes are read, especially by the people that could not make the meeting.
Saving Changes...
Khurram BashirSenior Solution Integration| Ericsson ABBellevue, Wa, United States
Hi All,
I am new to this forum and this is my first post.
In my case, most of the times I am participating quite actively in the meeting that I can't focus too much on recording the minutes.
To capture every thing comprehensively, I recently started using a good voice recorder in meetings to record all conversations in addition to what I am writing down on my notepad. Later i reconcile my minutes with recording and it sort of helps me not to miss any important point.
So far i did not got any appreciation from my stakeholders that my minutes are excellent but no one ever complained either so I guess it is working fine for me.
I tend to agree that its never too much or too less, it depends what granularity of details is needed / expected by the stakeholders and how much is considered as effective guideline for project management team. Saving Changes...
Sylvie EdwardsProfessor/Program coordinator| Durham College (DC)Whitby, Ontario, Canada
I believe that there is no right or wrong when it comes to minutes. You need to work with what your team will need and work with best. I have seen people get by with taking pictures of their team meeting whiteboard while other taken 5-7 pages long detailed minutes.
I would set a level that fits your team and that does not involve too much "admin" time. You might not be able to maintain that level of detail when the crush time rolls around. Saving Changes...
Stuart DixonProject Office Manager| Xl CatlinCrowbrough, United Kingdom
As with all good answers, most of them start with 'it depends'
The volume and detail that minutes go into is normally dictated by the following:
* What industry you are in, typically people who work for the state are bound by more guidelines that state how things should be recorded, so minutes of a government discussion would be recorded differently to an internal board meeting
* What circulation the minutes will be going to. Again if you are doing minutes that are going to be widely distributed then it may be politic to leave out discussions of a delicate matters (e.g. pay), whereas if it will only ever go out to a reduced audience, then perhaps this would be OK
* The length of time you have to do the minutes
* The length of time people have to read/action the minutes.
Having said all of that I typically record the following:
* New Actions - item to be actioned, by whom and by when.
* Status updates on old actions, either closing them or providing an update moving the action on
* Decisions - These are not actions that someone needs to do, but are items that have been decided in the meeting
* Information/Awareness - these are items for awareness of the people in the meeting
I find I manage to fit the majority of my items into those broad categories, and have setup my meeting minutes template to have a column for category, and then it provides a quick scan for people to see their name on the minutes (recorded in separate columns), the date, and the category.
The other useful item I picked up, which is hassle, but makes for more effective meetings is the highlighting of actions that were due on or before the meeting. I then distrubute these copies at the meeting. It does involve a bit of extra work, but it does make for a more effective meeting, so I have decided that this is worth doing Saving Changes...
Mitch KraytonPresident| Krayton SeminarsDenver, Co, United States
Minutes are a historic record of an event. You should include enough information to make it clear what transpired when you revisite the minutes in the future, but you should not record so much as to eliminate the need for people to attend the events going forward.
Thus, you record who was there, the agenda, what action was voted in or rejected, or postponed and the vote count, any new business introduced and the date for the next event. Saving Changes...
If they are going to a wider audience than the attendees then more detail is required to give the decisions and actions some context.
There is nothing more frustrating than being given meeting minutes that just list decisions and actions with minimal information. They confuse rather than inform. Saving Changes...
