I agree that meeting minutes are highly useful. During my internship, I took minutes during meetings without being asked to. I found that directors liked that and complimented me to taking part in that. Sometimes you think you will remember everything that was discussed during meetings but it is not the case. I like to record the important points of the discussion, next steps to take and who was taking action, attendees, etc. Whenever I was asked something about that meeting I was able to answer without hesitation. If I could not recall, I just needed to check my notebook and found the answer. After taking minutes, I would email them to all attendees and people who for some reason could not make it so that they could be aware of what the meeting was about. The documentation is very useful to other people as well, they can get the idea of how the meetings usually go, and the different ideas that come up regarding similar projects.
I do not entirely agree with your argument where you say that meeting minutes are not cared for by the people at the meeting. Whenever my capstone group meets with any advisor, we always have some sort of document open, documenting any comments/suggestions given by our advisor. And when it's time to make revisions, we almost always refer back to the meeting minutes to see what was said. The minutes serve almost like a checklist for us - using it if we had forgotten an essential suggestion that can improve our project.
However, you did mention that meeting minutes is helpful for those that could not make it to the meeting which I completely agree with. I have seen this time and time again where members who could not make a meeting would often refer to the meeting minutes as a way to catch up and update themselves on what is going on. It serves as a great tool to keep everyone updated without the inconvenience of additional meetings.
When I used to work at a research lab on campus, I didn't really pay much attention to the meeting minutes sent to me. This is because it had the information (tasks and decisions) for all the members in that meeting. I already took notes on my tasks for my project and so I didn't worry about what was in the minutes. But now at my internship, I do care about the minutes, because I do care about the decisions everyone makes and the tasks that they are on. This is because in a company almost everyone in the team is involved in each other's tasks. First of all, the minutes lets us know which part of this one big project is shared among whom, secondly, it shows us who is accountable/responsible for certain changes and alterations, and thirdly, the minutes provides traceability to when things go wrong. We can find out the root of the cause of issues when they rise up. So I think that the main reason that minutes are so important is because in industry, we all are working together on one big project or goal and we need to progress and document our steps so that we are in accordance and in sync with one another.
As a previous secretary, there is a difference between a good set of minutes and a sub-par set of minutes. You know a set of minutes is good when someone who was not present at the time of the meeting but knows the general workings of the organization/company (be it a co-worker, a supervisor, etc.) can read through them and be caught up and not have any real questions about what occurred in the meeting. The more questions the reader has after reading, the more sub-par the minutes are. Allowing people to catch up on what they missed is just one of the important parts about minutes though. Another important part about minutes is the fact that they are a great way to keep history of what happens throughout a project as well as track progress. The weekly updates obtained from a meeting allow everyone to see the new discoveries that have been made or accomplishments/milestones that have been reached since the last meeting which keeps everyone on the same page. If there's ever a dispute on the date something was agreed upon or if something was agreed upon in general, the two parties can just take a look back on the minutes and easily figure the situation out themselves. They know who to go to for more information if there is still anything left up in the air as well. To put it shortly, minutes are fantastic and crucial because they make it leagues easier to figure out what is going on, what isn't going on, who is responsible for what, who is making progress, who isn't making progress, who to ask a question to, etc.
As many have said above, having meeting minutes that clearly document what was talked about and the action items that arose as a result is crucial. These minutes are essentially a snapshot of the meeting, allowing those who attended to quickly remember what was talked about and those not in the loop to understand the reasons for some decisions. I have run into several occasions where managers have wondered if something was completed or if there was an update for a task that another department had to do. On these instances, looking through meeting minutes helped to clarify misconceptions and keep everyone updated as to what was happening. The reality is that not everyone can remember every single detail that is talked about or occurs when they are working. But having the ability to look back on documented meetings and have minutes trigger remembering other events helps us to do our jobs much better. What has helped a lot is the digitization of minutes and utilization of document sharing sites (like SharePoint) to share meeting minutes with others. Having such a tool creates a centralized location for minutes, allowing for quick and organized retrieval of information.
From my experience, meeting minutes is very important for different reasons, firstly, it summarizes all that was discuss in the meeting for a record and reminder as well. Secondly, It defines the action item and ownership of the action items after the meeting. As we learned every Pm has his/her personality and style, but it is very common that you will find these two points in meeting minutes. I find them very helpful too especially when you are working on couple project at the same time and you had more than one meeting regards different project in the same day. It is always good to recap on the topics was discussed on the previous meeting and tight it to the notes you have. Personally, I find it very important and I start to write my own meeting minutes if I know the host don't send one after the meeting.
As Dr. Simon mentioned in the lecture, meeting minutes are very important for any meeting at any project, as it will be a clear and direct proof for any case of project misleading or a role misunderstanding later. In many cases, when any mistake happens or any decision taken in a project process, every member may blame someone else to get rid of the responsibility. Other than that, it can be used as a reminder for the group member duties assigned during the meeting. Also, reviewing the recorder before the following meeting would prepare team members to check what they have done and to plan what to talk about or mention in the meeting. This would also help any member who missed the meeting for any reason and to keep everyone up-to-date to the project process.
Requirements for a Meeting Minutes Recorder: (Ref. thebalancecareers website)
- Record exactly the decisions, responsibilities, and major discussion details made at a meeting
- Note the progress details (with names attached) and due dates
- Study the major decisions and tasks at the end of the meeting so members can agree on them before leaving
- Be a team player and be flexible because attendees can add or correct anything they disagree with in the minutes
- Share the meeting minutes copies within 24 hours following the meeting
I have been a part of many meetings, whether as part of the executive board of a club at NJIT or while on my co-op. It is important that Lastly, it is also imperative that the meeting minutes are distributed shortly afterwards so that the topics covered are reinforced with all attendees. It also puts down in writing how the agenda was covered throughout the meeting. It is also important to note that the meeting minutes are not word for word what was said, rather they are a complete summary of the main topics that were discussed. The minutes should also be more objective than subjective so that all the recipients of the meeting minutes can clearly understand what took place in the meeting. Without meeting minutes, people will have to rely upon their pure memory, and that may not be so reliable when assigning tasks.
Meeting minutes are important as they serve as a formal record of what was discussed. If a decision is made in a meeting then it needs to be recorded, to avoid confusion in the future. In my job I have weekly one on one meetings with my manager to discuss what I am currently working on as well as anything he needs me to do or any questions I have for him. I take notes, mostly for myself, but I send them to him as well. This allows for both of us to be on the same page as to what I am doing and where we can help each other. It also serves as a reference for me, if he told me to do something small that I may have forgotten about immediately after the meeting, the next morning when I pull up my meeting notes I can quickly see what I need to do.
Meeting notes are definitely important, as they can serve to solve problems without wasting time because something that was said out loud was clearly documented and people cannot dispute it.
As a Project Coordinator who takes the meeting minutes from each meeting, I agree with Dr. Simon’s push on the importance of taking meeting minutes. Meeting minutes captures the discussions of the meetings with the program team – allowing those who are absent to catch up on what they missed and to record any decisions that are made in the meeting. Meeting minutes also captures the history of the product development - through initiation, identification of requirements, verification and validation processes, launch and post launch activities. These can be very useful to review for project team members who are new to the company or the project. Typically, I classify the meeting minutes as non-DHF documents. But if there is a decision made that influences the design, verification, or validation of the product, then those meeting minutes are classified as a part of the Design History File (DHF). If classified as a part of the DHF, meeting minutes can be used as supporting materials during an audit or can be reference materials if there is ever to be a field corrective action.
As you have said, meeting minutes are very useful for the DHF files since they capture the activities and decisions made. I have worked with many legacy products, products that are upwards of 50 years old. At that time the documentation practices were nothing compared to what they are today. There may be missing or lost files that are key to the design of the project. Although it might not be a replacement, having the meeting minutes in the DHF allowed for additional documentation to why the product was designed or tested a certain way. These greatly decreased the amount of work I had to do for let's say a line extension since I could leverage this information.
Aside from the DHF aspect, meeting minutes are useful since they are a document containing post-meeting actions that an individual agreed to. If holds the individual accountable for that task and it also allows for further discussion points if that task was not completed.
I am president of a new start up club on campus and we have used various methods to keep track of the meeting progress. Having someone take notes throughout the meeting and upload them directly afterwards to a folder accessible by everyone is crucial. We used to just email the minutes, or try to remember what was said and quickly write it down after the meeting. Both methods had flaws. We could not remember what was discussed with as much detail as we would have liked and the emails became too difficult to manage. Some people would have minutes from all meetings while some people might have a meeting missing or a reply chain formed on one minutes email. The community accessible folder is by far the most effective because the information in there is accurate, does not change, and is organized and accessible to everyone.
Minutes also known as minutes of meeting are the informal notes are the instant written records. It describes the events of the meetings and includes list of attendees, statement of issues considered by the participants, and related responses or the decisions for the issues. The purpose of meetings includes an official written record of the meetings of an organization or group. It includes only the summary of the decisions. Importance of the minutes consists: offers legal protection, it provides proper structure, it helps to drive a plan of action for the leadership team and the employees. Minutes as a measuring stick as it provides a review document when it comes time to measure progress. Better decisions are made as the members can ask about issues concerning the change and have them clarified. Problems and issues which are present in the team are resolved.
It hasn't happened to me personally, but recording the minutes of each meeting allows everyone involved to be on the same page about what was discussed. Many times some things may be stated or decided that are later disagreed upon. If the meeting minutes are logged correctly, this can be easily resolved by referencing that. It also allows you to keep track of attendance of those meetings, especially when it involves a larger group of people. It can also give an outline of what items are going to be discussed or what items need to be addressed. This allows people to have a better idea of what will be discussed and if they need to prepare something for that meeting, they will know based on the agenda. While it may seem tedious or unnecessary, it will be beneficial in the long run.
The purpose of doing meeting minutes is to have everyone on the team and everything related to the project straighten out in order. It helps you to remember what was discussed in the meeting, where did it happen, who attend it, who made the decisions and what decisions were made. After each meeting whoever was writing/typing the minutes of the meeting has given everyone a copy of the discussion so everyone can check if everything said in the meeting is written properly. This way it helps in future to provide answers if anyone says this wasn't discussed or wasn’t his/her responsibility. After the meeting, everyone remembers what happened in the meeting and have some idea about what was discussed, so everyone knows what need to be achieved by the next meeting. In the next meeting, you can see how much work it’s been done and who didn’t do their responsibility on time. This will help you save time and money.
