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THE MEETING NOTES AND DECISIONS LOG
The exact meeting note format and decisions log I use with every client.
A meeting note block for each call, and a running decisions-and-actions log that becomes the durable record of what was agreed. Check it before every meeting and nothing slips.
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Notes are not the point, decisions are
Most meeting notes record what was said. This format records what was decided, who owns it, and by when, with everything else compressed. The decisions log is the part that earns its keep. Six months later it answers why a choice was made, which is otherwise reconstructed from memory and rarely accurately. It matters most on projects that run for months.
The format I use with every client
Sent within a day, short enough to read on a phone, and structured so that disagreement surfaces immediately. If someone remembers a decision differently, you want to know that on the Tuesday, not in the following quarter.
COMMON QUESTIONS
What should meeting notes include?
Decisions with a named owner and a date, actions, and anything explicitly parked. Discussion summary is optional. If a line does not lead to someone doing something or explain why a choice was made, it can go.
How quickly should notes go out?
Within a day, while people can still correct them. Notes circulated a week later are a record nobody will challenge, which sounds convenient and is exactly the problem.
What is a decisions log?
A running list of choices made, when, by whom, and the reasoning. It stops the same question being reopened every few months and gives new people the context without a meeting.