[HN Gopher] My approach to taking notes in meetings
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My approach to taking notes in meetings
Author : tylertreat
Score : 105 points
Date : 2021-06-28 17:01 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (blog.witful.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (blog.witful.com)
| imvetri wrote:
| Skip the meeting saying you have another meeting to attend to,
|
| later ask for "Action Items" "Meeting notes".
| leephillips wrote:
| Some of these techniques are impressive, but they don't work for
| me. My notes take the form of drawings: flowers, aliens, bugs,
| geometric diagrams--whatever makes it look like I'm paying
| attention and prevents my forehead from violently impacting the
| table.
| irrational wrote:
| I cannot multitask. At all. Listening and writing are two
| different tasks and I cannot do both at the same time. If you
| ever see me writing in a meeting you can know 100% that I am not
| able to listen to anything being said while I am writing. I am
| amazed by people who seemingly can both write and listen at the
| same time.
| ultra_nick wrote:
| I don't understand. Do you have to look at the keyboard to
| type?
|
| Notes feel as natural to me as talking.
| irrational wrote:
| No. But talking and typing are two different tasks. I can't
| multitask. That includes typing and talking, typing and
| listening, etc.
| puchatek wrote:
| What about talking to a person about the previous topic while
| listening to another person talk about the current?
| 123pie123 wrote:
| I'm exactly the same
|
| I either need to concentrate on the discussions or I
| concentrate on writing notes. If I try to do both at the same
| time I fail at both - badly.
|
| I either record the meetings, ask a collegue to help take high
| level notes - then immediatly after the meeting put more detail
| in them from memory - then circulate (asap) the actions for
| feedback/ comments etc..
|
| failing that, I will stop the meeting to write stuff down -
| ideally sharing the whiteboard, and this process showing
| everyone the degree of my (seriously) bad spelling, bad grammar
| and the amazing ability to completely miss multiple words out
| (or reverse the word order)
| ketzo wrote:
| _> The way I would capture an action item during a meeting would
| be to underline (if handwritten) or bold (if typed) the part in
| the note and commit it to memory. Important things would always
| get remembered by the very nature of being important, but the
| slightly-less-important-but-still-valuable items would often slip
| my mind.
|
| > This was the difference between being good and great at my job.
| It's the stuff that, when missed, no one really notices, but when
| you're on top of it, people think you're superhuman._
|
| Before starting work at a large company, I would have scoffed at
| the idea that "remembering little stuff" could ever be
| "superhuman."
|
| Now? I'm right there with the author. The people I work with who
| consistently come to meetings with updates like "oh, and I took
| care of <small-but-important thing>" are my heroes.
| [deleted]
| mgadams3 wrote:
| IMO it's generally more of a tooling problem than a methodology
| problem... like trying to build a skyscraper without power tools.
|
| The main challenge with taking notes during meetings is that the
| tools use were designed for drafting in a non-linear environment.
| But notes in meetings are directly related to the content of what
| is being said at a specific moment in time, and the text-only
| notes usually fail to capture the full essence compared to
| watching that part of the video.
|
| When building my last start-up, an online school on Zoom, we
| recorded every lecture so our students could go back and review
| the content during the working sessions. But they found it hard
| to correlate their Google Doc notes with the moment in the
| recording they wanted to go back and watch. But since we pulled
| over the Zoom chat log with timestamps back to moments in the
| recording, they started taking notes there so they could keep
| track of the part they knew they wanted to watch later or
| reference.
|
| Long story short, when the online school got acquired I started
| my current start-up https://grain.co to turn that insight into
| software anyone could use to better capture and share knowledge
| during any kind of meeting.
| javier10e6 wrote:
| Meetings: The activity of people hearing themselves talk. I think
| I stumbled here or in lobsters with this site:
| https://www.justingarrison.com/blog/2021-03-15-the-document-...
| Very apropos to the effectiveness of meetings and of course ,note
| taking towards creating long term value.
| cborenstein wrote:
| I've found that in meetings, I mostly just need short quick
| notes. I don't need entire documents and structure. Instead, I
| jot down a few of the most important key ideas and action items.
| After the meeting, I add my action items into my todo list.
|
| Working on bytebase.io - the fastest notepad for engineers. With
| Bytebase you can jump into a timestamped meeting note in one
| keystroke and bucketize individual items afterwards.
|
| https://intercom.help/bytebase/en/articles/4587207-meeting-n...
| svilen_dobrev wrote:
| dear Witful:
|
| Dropping user tags and only having essentially 2 hardcoded types
| of auto-tags - timestamp + people ?
|
| mmmmh. And Where to put the yellow/pink/.. sticky-notes?
|
| Tagging/categorisation is a slow postprocessing - weekly,
| monthly, yearly. i keep reorganizing my mails from last 25 years.
| including pruning. Same for my pictures. Most stay as they were,
| but some change coordinates sometimes. As i may have changed.
|
| yeah, one may say meetings and notes usualy don't last years..
| except when they do because are actualy important. Should i
| invent DIY tags in title?
| dougmwne wrote:
| For me, I really like Zoom recording paired with the automatic
| transcripts. The transcripts help me to find the section of the
| video I need to review. I wish there was a feature to tie your
| typed notes into the video timecodes so by clicking on a note I
| had made, I could jump to the point in the meeting where I had
| made the note.
| [deleted]
| r00fus wrote:
| Great idea. I would use this but we can't record all zoom
| calls. Furthermore sometimes we are required to use other conf
| tools.
| akio wrote:
| Grain[0] is what you're looking for. (Disclaimer: I work at
| Grain.)
|
| It lets you take notes during your meeting that are timestamped
| to a recording and transcript.
|
| It also lets you share clips from your meeting both after and
| live during the meeting. It indexes your transcripts to make
| your meetings searchable later, and does a lot of other things
| to maximize the value you extract from meetings.
|
| [0] https://grain.co
| dougmwne wrote:
| That's awesome, I'll check it out. Thanks!
| cyberge99 wrote:
| Descript does this well. It transcribes a video file and you
| can click around in the notes window and it jumps to that
| position in the video. Very handy tool/service. Free for the
| first fews hours per month(10 maybe), then paid.
| dougmwne wrote:
| I would want something that lets me take notes on the meeting
| live, then sync them up with the video and transcript after
| the fact.
| echelon wrote:
| Here's my shorthand. Google docs. Nested by topic, use ldaps, use
| "AI (action item)" to assign tasks. ldap1: This
| thing * ldap2: No that thing * ldap3:
| Because of this reason * AI(ldap1): Fix that thing
| ldap3: What about X? * ldap1: I think X is at risk
| * ldap2: We have an alternative from [this vendor](link)
| ... * AI(unassigned): Investigate vendor alternative
| to fix X
|
| It's quick and easy to edit/share.
|
| Google Docs creates TODOs automatically around "AI(ldap)" and
| correctly attributes them.
|
| If you're in a multi-stakeholder meeting, you can present the
| notes and even have multiple people backfilling with links,
| screenshots, etc.
| pdmccormick wrote:
| What does "ldap" mean in this context?
| [deleted]
| echelon wrote:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightweight_Directory_Access_P.
| ..
|
| In the context I used it, ldap = username
|
| Essentially all employees have a unique account that is used
| for email, unix sysadmin, etc., and this is accomplished via
| LDAP. You can sync permissions, auth, and more between
| various systems if they all speak the same language.
|
| To use our hacker news usernames, yours would be
| "pdmccormick" and mine would be "echelon". Companies may
| choose to make these based on personal names, but it's not
| required.
| dsr_ wrote:
| Oh, you mean
|
| usernames
|
| or
|
| GECOS
|
| or
|
| handles
|
| I've never referred to names as ldaps and I would find it
| horribly confusing to do so...
| throwaways885 wrote:
| I've only ever heard the term ldap from Googlers, to
| mean, "username".
| rbonvall wrote:
| It's the first time I see usernames referred to as "ldaps".
| Learning stuff like this is why Hacker News is my favorite
| HTTP :o)
| linker3000 wrote:
| I've used this method since the early 1990s:
|
| 1) Use no tech.
|
| 2) Cornell-inspired note-taking paper with topics in the left
| margin and speaker names/notes/sub-topics in the main body.
| There's room for mind maps if you wish.
|
| 3) Actions go in the bottom field so they are easy to find later
| and mark off when done. If you need to reference something in the
| body notes for follow-up or action (because you don't have time
| to write something at the bottom of the page), put an A in a
| circle next to the relevant sentence.
|
| 4) Meeting notes are stapled together and filed in chronological
| order in a ring binder, divided by working group/meeting name or
| topic. You can then remove a bunch of notes from previous
| meetings to take into the current one for reference.
|
| Here's a Word doc of my blank Cornell-type paper:
|
| https://github.com/linker3000/Cornell
| hammock wrote:
| This approach is brilliant. Thank you for sharing.
| mgbmtl wrote:
| I often have (virtual) meetings with clients, and there may be
| 3-5 people of their team on the call, and I might have a
| colleague also there.
|
| To make sure meetings aren't a waste of time, each of our clients
| has a Gitlab space on our self-hosted Gitlab, and while screen-
| sharing, I open their Board, which is in a sense the meeting
| agenda.
|
| Then I open each issue, and I take notes while they are talking.
| If the discussion is too quick, I stop folks and tell them "one
| second, we should write this down, it's important but I'll
| forget". And before moving to the next topic, I ask every-one to
| validate.
|
| Towards the end of the meeting (usually 30-45 mins), we then go
| back to the board, and re-prioritize if needed.
|
| In parallel, I have a paper todo list, where I write down the
| issue numbers that I really need to prioritize, or other notes
| that the client should not see.
|
| Obviously this does not work for all types of meetings, but we
| also do this for our internal company meetings and it's fairly
| efficient. In the past I would only use paper, but I ended up
| with lots of paper that I lost track of.
| alohaandmahalo wrote:
| Love this approach to using GitLab to incorporate intentional
| documentation in sync meetings. I work at GitLab, and we use
| the platform to collaborate, but I've not used it as described
| here. We'll have to give it a try!
| logicalmonster wrote:
| I think every brain might be wired differently and a different
| approach might work better for some people.
|
| But if I'm trying to make notes in a meeting, I can't listen to a
| speaker argue some nuanced point in a meeting while furiously
| trying to jot things down.
|
| An approach that works for me is to have the meeting and try and
| pay undivided attention to it, then have 5-10 uninterrupted
| minutes at the end while everything is in short term memory to
| summarize it. If somehow I don't remember a point, it's usually
| not important enough to write down.
|
| I'd say if 2 people in a meeting take that approach and and
| consolidate their notes at the end, you're going to get a
| complete picture of what just happened.
| warkdarrior wrote:
| One thing to consider is that taking notes in a meeting is not
| about recording all information that is communicated. The key
| is to summarize the high-level point ("we cannot take approach
| X"), who stated it ("according to Bob"), and why ("because X
| will slow down Y"). This gives you sufficient info to
| reconstruct the main message and to know who to ask for more
| detail if needed.
| bluGill wrote:
| I tell myself that, but in truth the main value in taking
| notes is it forces me to pay attention. When I'm not
| daydreaming about how I would make the last point in a
| different way (thus missing the current one), or thinking
| about whatever project I'm doing at home I get a lot more out
| of the talk.
|
| I sometimes pretend I'm translating to Spanish (I don't know
| near enough Spanish to do this, but in my mind it is okay to
| make the English words with a Spanish ending and not worry if
| anyone else would understand). this doesn't work as well, but
| it still keeps my mind on listening and so I get more out of
| it.
| puchatek wrote:
| Muy cleverito
| joshuamorton wrote:
| I think there's a bit more to it than this: note taking is more
| than just writing stuff down, its engaged with the process of
| having a well run meeting.
|
| First, figure out the goal of your meeting: is it to share
| information (a standup, all-hands, etc.), come to a technical
| decision/consensus, something else? I'll focus on the second.
|
| Your goal is to come to a decision, or resolve an open
| question. You have a stakeholder presumably, as well as some
| people with insight/opinions. You should define a few roles:
| meeting runner, note taker, and stakeholder. These can often be
| the same person, but are also often different people. The
| meeting runner does just that, they manage time, ensure people
| have a chance to speak, and generally referee and make sure
| things get done. The note taker takes notes, not an exact
| transcription, but detailed, attributed to speakers, etc. The
| stakeholder is somewhat responsible for the outcome, makes sure
| that they are happy with the result and manages AIs.
|
| Note that these roles can't belong to any of the people who are
| presenting/arguing/disagreeing. Also, in practice, they can't
| belong to the least senior people in the room. Those people are
| probably going to be more actively involved in the meeting,
| while the people refereeing can sit back, ask questions and
| guide the discussion, with ample time to digest and take notes.
|
| As someone who has at various points been both the active
| participant and the various stakeholder/notetaker/ref, it's a
| bad time if you have to do both. Notetaking takes up too much
| mental energy. I can't actively answer questions while taking
| notes. I can often ask them, if something isn't clear while I'm
| taking notes, it's sometimes extra obvious, so I can chime in
| with a question or a brief clarification, but anything more
| than that and you're likely to miss something.
|
| This also, with the timekeeping, means that if the notetaker
| misses something, you already have the broad structure of the
| meeting written down, so others can chime in with anything
| forgotten, or add other follow-ups and action items. Then, you
| can email the whole summary out, and anyone who missed the
| meeting can see what was discussed, how the decision was
| reached, and follow-ups, and that's useful in case not all
| experts were able to be in the room, or as a reference for the
| future.
| counternotions wrote:
| The country where I'm from, the de facto corporate culture trains
| the junior employees to furiously scribble down notes as a
| manager/executive is speaking, as a formality and sign of
| respect. How much these notes are legible and useful will vary
| widely, I've seen some laughable ones, but it is a positive
| social tool to enforce the act of listening.
| sporedro wrote:
| It's funny but I find when trying to scribble everything said
| down I'm not actively listening and comprehending anything
| that's being said just trying to copy words down.
|
| I've found listening and jotting down short concise notes every
| now and than about something important is the best.
| canadianwriter wrote:
| Is it really listening though? Of the three tested, verbatim
| was the worst in this test:
| https://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/JEP/article/viewFil...
|
| There are others you can look up. Verbatim note taking means
| you are hearing the words but spending your time focusing on
| copying them rather than distilling/understanding them or
| putting them in context. Letting your brain process the
| information is more effective than trying to memorize the
| information.
| Kluny wrote:
| That's basically what I do in my lectures at uni. The notes are
| totally worthless after the lecture, but it does keep me
| engaged and off hackernews during class.
| chishaku wrote:
| listening != hearing + transcribing
| dominotw wrote:
| Reminds of " kim jong il looking at things" pictures where
| whole bunch of minions are jotting down his "on the spot
| guidance". They even have placards marking the places where
| such guidance was received and at what date.
| ryandrake wrote:
| I worked at one of these companies, as one of the scribblers,
| and it felt bizarre. _Multiple_ people sitting in the meeting,
| furiously writing down every word spoken by the Great Senior
| Manager. It felt like I was one of those North Korean guys you
| see in those pictures, following Dear Leader around writing
| down all his words. The rationale we were all given was that it
| is very important to capture every word, because the execs
| remember what they said and asked for. If you forget to
| implement something that they mentioned very briefly or off-
| hand, they 'll remember it and there will be trouble...
| macintux wrote:
| Reminds me of the story that engineers would attend Steve
| Jobs public presentations (during his first stint at Apple)
| to find out what they needed to work on, because occasionally
| he would "announce" something that heretofore had existed
| only in his head.
| grimborg wrote:
| I take all my meeting notes on Agenda ( https://agenda.com/ ). It
| links the notes to the calendar events.
| zerop wrote:
| I am looking at this witful product UI and I wonder what stops MS
| to make interfaces like this in office products. Their UX is so
| awful in most of products. They have huge customer base, data and
| products to create great experience. Then, why?
| robertkluin wrote:
| I work on Witful. We spend a lot of time and effort keeping the
| UI clean and refined; to the point that we have accidentally
| over-simplified in a few key spots. The result is that we've
| got a ton of hidden functionality. Things like collated notes
| by domain or capturing "questions" (simply add `??` to a
| sentence to mark it as a question) are tricky to find. I think
| MS has just optimized for making everything "obvious" by adding
| a button for everything to their menu bars.
| r00fus wrote:
| I do something similar to the hybrid approach.
|
| Instead of simply noting concerns, I ask if there is an
| actionable item, then note the action.
|
| > CL: I don't think Azure AD is the right choice for end user
| auth
|
| would become
|
| > CL raised concern about Azure AD option, @RF to revisit
| specific concerns with stakeholders by EOD tomorrow.
|
| (the action would be highlighted for followup task assignment as
| appropriate).
|
| Note: this approach is more appropriate for small-runway
| implementation projects with decision makers (or empowered
| individuals) attending, where decisions need to be made quickly
| or escalated.
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