Costs of clear minutes

  1. tradeoff: participation vs recording
  2. need to free up schedule after meeting
  3. accountability applies to you too
Taking minutes does not need to cut you out of a meeting, but it does call for a tradeoff between participating and recording. In most meetings, you can be formulating what to say next while someone else is speaking. This doesn't work if you want to record even the essence of what was said.

You will need to take notes quickly during the meeting. If you wait too long to write up the minutes, you may have trouble remembering what you meant by the notes you took. If you day is filled with wall-to-wall meetings, you'll need to change it.

Before you commit yourself to making a clear record of who was supposed to do what as decided in your meetings, make sure you're willing to be held accountable yourself.

The Importance of Meeting Minutes
Last modified: Mon Jan 6 16:23:46 EST 1997