If its not documented – It never happened – Minute All Meetings
Minute All Meetings
It is vital to Minute All Meetings – Taking minutes of meetings is often regarded as an onerous task and some people will resort to all sorts of devious tricks to avoid doing it.
However – What is often overlooked is that the minute taker is a very powerful person.
They can influence meeting outcomes by slanting a “difficult” agreement or outcome a particular way.
And this is why it is very important to always have a skilled person taking the minutes and to always read and understand the minutes of all meetings.
I well remember a very highly charged, regular monthly meeting with a number of managers. It lasted over 2 hours and ended with reluctant agreement over a number of contentious issues, by all of the key players.
At the next monthly meeting, recollections of what had been agreed varied widely and as no minutes had been recorded – It was another long, emotional, highly charged meeting.
BUT this time – it was agreed by all in attendance – that in future – very accurate and detailed minutes should be taken, documented and distributed.
The simple message is:-
- Keep accurate minutes of all meetings
- Email copies of the minutes to all attendees
- Email cc copies to anyone remotely associated with the meeting, project or topic
- Read and ensure that you understand the minutes of the meetings – even if you are only on the cc list
- Remember that the minutes should be an accurate record of the meeting and outcomes
Some meetings will have a system of rotating “scribes”
Other times one person is nominated as a permanent “scribe”
There is no right or wrong – whatever suits the circumstance and creates an accurate record
Cross reference with Meeting Agenda
Not Only – But Also …..
When there is a need to take a deep breath and take a break
- Open List Of Pages – Engineering Nostalgia for pages of Old Engineer Memories from Engineering practice in the 1960’s/70’s/80’s – with a bit of armed forces and medieval trivia thrown in
- Regardless of your current status – always ask the question – Is there a Better Way and
visit the 3R web page for an overview of the 3R Philosophy Review – Refresh – Reset - Whenever possible – always follow the KISS Principle
- Challenge yourself and your colleagues with an Engineering Quiz
- Check out Engineering Odd Bits for odd subject matter – including humor and comment
Engineer & Communicate – Engineering Trivia Quiz – Engineering Nostalgia – Engineering Odd Bits