Meeting notes in practice
Templates and habits: minutes, action items, follow-up emails, 1:1s, standups, interviews.
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- Meeting notes in practice1:1 meeting notes: a template for managers and reportsKeep 1:1 notes as one running document shared by manager and report, not a new note each week. A template, what to write down, and when to leave recording out.
- Meeting notes in practiceBoard meeting minutes: what they must recordWhat board minutes are for and must record, how the secretary's draft becomes the approved record, and why recording a board meeting is the board's call.
- Meeting notes in practiceBuilding a searchable archive of your meetingsHow to search meeting transcripts and find what was said months later — by what was said, by time, and by project — and what to keep and delete along the way.
- Meeting notes in practiceClient meeting notes: a template for consultants and agenciesA client meeting notes template that records decisions, scope changes, what the client asked for and where you differed — the parts that matter at invoice time.
- Meeting notes in practiceHow to take meeting notes when you're also in the meetingHow to take useful meeting notes while you are also talking: listen for decisions and commitments, write in shorthand, check them aloud, tidy up after.
- Meeting notes in practiceHow to write a follow-up email after a meeting (with templates)A follow-up email confirms what was agreed, asks for what is still open and stays short. How to write one, with client, internal and interview templates.
- Meeting notes in practiceInterview notes: a template for fair hiring decisionsA structured interview notes template that records evidence against criteria, written straight after the interview, with consent and retention settled first.
- Meeting notes in practiceKeeping a decision log from your meetingsA decision log records each decision, the date, who made it and the meeting it came from. How to keep one that people use, with a copyable template.
- Meeting notes in practiceMeeting minutes vs meeting notes: what's the difference?Minutes are an ordered record of what a meeting discussed and decided; notes are for the people who have to act. When you need each, and how to write minutes.
- Meeting notes in practiceRetrospective meeting notes: a template that leads to changesA retrospective notes template that keeps only the changes the team agreed to try, with owners, and checks them at the next retro rather than starting over.
- Meeting notes in practiceSales call notes: a discovery call templateWhat to write down on a sales discovery call — the prospect's problem in their own words, who else decides, and the agreed next step — with a copyable template.
- Meeting notes in practiceStandup meeting notes: what to write down and what to skipStandup notes should record blockers and changes of plan, not everyone's status. What to write, what to skip, and a short template for daily standups.
- Meeting notes in practiceThe questions to ask after a meetingFollow-up questions worth going back with after a meeting, grouped by what is at risk — scope, money, dates, people and assumptions — and how to ask them.
- Meeting notes in practiceUser research interview notes: capturing what people actually saidHow to take user interview notes that hold up in synthesis — quotes over paraphrase, the transcript as the source, and consent settled before you record.
- Meeting notes in practiceWriting meeting action items that get doneA meeting action item needs an owner, a verb, a deliverable and a date. How to write them, weak and strong examples, and what to do when nobody committed.