My client meeting notes went from chicken scratch to a full project plan in about two weeks

I used to just jot down random points during calls, and half the time I'd forget what 'call back re: asset thing' even meant. Then a client in Austin straight up asked for a written summary after our chat, which I totally fumbled. I spent the next 14 days forcing myself to use a simple template with three boxes: their goal, my next step, and the deadline. Now my notes look like a real roadmap, and I haven't missed a follow-up task since. Has anyone else found a dumb little trick that finally got them organized?

3 comments

3 Comments

grantw321mo ago

I get the template thing, but honestly that sounds like more work to keep up. For me, the "dumb little trick" was just stopping with the notes altogether. I record the audio on my phone with the client's okay, and then I just do the stuff we talked about. Writing it all down again after the fact just meant I was doing the meeting twice.

dianaanderson1mo ago

Read a study praising that exact method.

elizabeths511mo ago

The study I saw was about a specific kind of template, not just any notes. It cuts the after-meeting work down to maybe five minutes. I see what @grantw32 means about feeling like you do the meeting twice, and that's exactly what the template avoids. You fill in quick checkboxes and one-line actions during the talk itself. It stops that huge time sink of writing full sentences later. For me, it turned a 30 minute recap job into something I finish before I stand up from my desk.