I'm looking for a good way to take notes at work.
December 5, 2007 1:59 PM Subscribe
I'm looking for a good way to take notes at work.
I've been reading lots of good notetaking posts here, but they are mainly aimed at students. My situation is a little different because I'm not keeping track of lectures and readings, but meetings and projects.
Maybe someone has suggestions for me....
Here are some criteria:
1) Paper only cause I travel a lot.
2) I sit in a lot of meetings.
3) I would like to be able to flip back through the book and find things (eg, names, projects, etc.)
I try to use the Cornell method but it doesnt seem to work for me. Maybe I'm too sloppy.
I've been reading lots of good notetaking posts here, but they are mainly aimed at students. My situation is a little different because I'm not keeping track of lectures and readings, but meetings and projects.
Maybe someone has suggestions for me....
Here are some criteria:
1) Paper only cause I travel a lot.
2) I sit in a lot of meetings.
3) I would like to be able to flip back through the book and find things (eg, names, projects, etc.)
I try to use the Cornell method but it doesnt seem to work for me. Maybe I'm too sloppy.
The one thing I find very useful is to draw a box in the margin beside anything that needs an action, then check the box when the action's done.
I can't help with a way to locate names fast - I write all names with contact info into the back page of my notebook (unindexed, spiral-bound, fwiw). I guess if the notebook had numbered pages then you could come up with an index for names and projects.
posted by anadem at 2:43 PM on December 5, 2007
I can't help with a way to locate names fast - I write all names with contact info into the back page of my notebook (unindexed, spiral-bound, fwiw). I guess if the notebook had numbered pages then you could come up with an index for names and projects.
posted by anadem at 2:43 PM on December 5, 2007
What I do:
- note the purpose of the meeting
- note the time
- note all people present
- if anything interesting is said, record it with the speaker's name. I'm happy summarising or paraphrasing for brevity. If verbatim is important, I put quotes around the passing so I know that I got the exact words.
- if I commit to doing something, I note it with a star next to it
- if someone commits to doing something for me, I note it with a star next to it
- if a date or deadline is agreed, I note it with a star
- at the end of the meeting, I transfer starred items into my calendar, to-do and follow-up lists.
- when extremely bored, draw portraits of the participants and the view if any.
As part of that technique, be prepared to pipe up and clarify.
"So, A is going to have information X for us at our next meeting?"
"So, B, C and D will meet me in this room at 12 PM next Tuesday?"
The upshot is that I have a paper record of who I met, where I met them, what we agreed, and maybe even a bunch of nice sketches.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 2:56 PM on December 5, 2007 [1 favorite]
- note the purpose of the meeting
- note the time
- note all people present
- if anything interesting is said, record it with the speaker's name. I'm happy summarising or paraphrasing for brevity. If verbatim is important, I put quotes around the passing so I know that I got the exact words.
- if I commit to doing something, I note it with a star next to it
- if someone commits to doing something for me, I note it with a star next to it
- if a date or deadline is agreed, I note it with a star
- at the end of the meeting, I transfer starred items into my calendar, to-do and follow-up lists.
- when extremely bored, draw portraits of the participants and the view if any.
As part of that technique, be prepared to pipe up and clarify.
"So, A is going to have information X for us at our next meeting?"
"So, B, C and D will meet me in this room at 12 PM next Tuesday?"
The upshot is that I have a paper record of who I met, where I met them, what we agreed, and maybe even a bunch of nice sketches.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 2:56 PM on December 5, 2007 [1 favorite]
I've found this tip about making a map of who is at a meeting and where they were sitting to be extremely helpful -- especially when there are people I have not met before.
posted by jknecht at 5:48 PM on December 5, 2007
posted by jknecht at 5:48 PM on December 5, 2007
Tablet PC. You can scribble all you want, and it is easy to translate it into text files (with pictures, if you draw a lot). I couldn't believe how nice it was when I first tried it.
posted by overhauser at 6:32 PM on December 5, 2007
posted by overhauser at 6:32 PM on December 5, 2007
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Mind Performance Hacks.
Even if you don't go whole-hog with it, learning just the 27 single letter characters can really save time.
posted by SpiffyRob at 2:13 PM on December 5, 2007 [1 favorite]