You might look at the title and think, "Aren't minutes a job for juniors?" or "Shouldn't AI just do it?" or "Look at this fossil lol," but this is a conversation about why you should still try writing meeting minutes by hand.
Why do we need meeting minutes in the first place?
- To clarify ToDos and move things forward. If someone returns to their desk after a meeting thinking, "Wait, what am I supposed to do?" it's a failure. You must write and distribute them so that "who does what by when" is clear to everyone. This is the absolute priority of meeting minutes.
- To keep a record of decisions. If you don't write it down, it turns into a "he said, she said" argument later. In the worst case, a superior might overturn a decision (though some do that even if it's in the minutes).
- To help non-participants understand the context. Minutes that only list decisions and ToDos leave non-participants feeling left out, wondering "Why did they reach that conclusion?" This "feeling of being left out" is troublesome and gradually erodes the motivation of stakeholders.
What's the point of humans writing minutes when generative AI exists?
- I often hear people say, "Generative AI writes minutes now, so there's no point in humans doing it." However, as someone who has meetings every day, my gut feeling is that it's more efficient to run a meeting while writing minutes manually in real-time.
- There are three benefits to real-time minutes + facilitation: First, it's easier to keep the discussion on track (you can show the meeting's current location, what needs to be decided, and what's being discussed). Second, it's easier to eliminate misunderstandings (you can write while confirming, "Is my understanding of your statement correct?"). Third, it's easier to nail down ToDos and decisions (you can define them specifically, like "Person X is in charge of this ToDo, with this output by this date").
- What generative AI writes is ultimately a "transcript." It accurately records what was said.
- However, AI doesn't think about "what should be discussed, what the points of contention are," "whether decisions and ToDos are finalized," or "whether this statement requires a follow-up question." AI won't take care of the determination to finalize ToDos no matter what and record them.
- Of course, it's a different story if AI starts facilitating, but for now, the "human facilitating while taking minutes" style is what actually makes meetings productive on the ground.
Also, writing lots of minutes makes you "stronger."
The act of writing minutes is a mixed martial arts of basic skill sets and mindsets. You gain five major abilities:
- Writing Skills: This is the first thing that shows through when reading minutes. Minutes with terrible writing are a harsh world where people think, "I can't understand this no matter how many times I read it" or "The sentences are too long to bother reading." On the other hand, it's a skill you can improve with effort. The shortest path is to beg a capable senior to "please tear my minutes apart with red ink!" and have them help you train.
- Structuring Skills: Minutes that just follow the order of speech make it impossible to tell what's being discussed. You need to show the big picture and the position of each point within it. Is it about people, money, or things? Systems or culture? Strategy or execution? Writing minutes means structuring.
- Comprehension and Catch-up Ability: If you think, "I can write easily with writing and structuring skills, don't underestimate my education," wait a moment. "Technical terms" will trip you up. If an unfamiliar term comes up, look it up yourself first; if you don't understand after 10 minutes, ask someone. If you do this thoroughly for about three meetings, you'll understand about 60% of internal and industry jargon and be able to infer new terms to some extent.
- Ownership of the Meeting: This actually greatly affects the quality of the minutes. When a conversation flows like "Yes, X is important, I agree" -> "Right, so the next topic is...", the quality depends on whether you can bite back with, "Wait. Are we actually doing X? If so, who is doing it and by when?" Minutes from people with low ownership often have things that seem decided but aren't, or ambiguous descriptions that could be interpreted either way.
- Work Speed: When asked to do minutes, consider it a test of your work speed. Fast workers have a first draft ready the moment the meeting ends and send a "please check the minutes" to all participants within 5 minutes. "How many minutes after the meeting are the minutes ready?" is something people notice, and it greatly affects the impression of your work.
...So, I personally think human-made minutes haven't faded away yet.
By the way, my recommendation is:
- Write about 70% of the minutes before the meeting (what are the points to discuss, and what are the tentative answers?). Adjust whether you show all 70% or only 30% depending on the purpose of the meeting.
- Then, proceed by filling in the minutes while sharing your screen in real-time. It feels great when you finish with "These are the ToDos and decisions. Here are the minutes."
I've also written about how to create real-time minutes on note, so please take a look if you'd like.
note: [[Secret Technique] How to Write Real-Time Meeting Minuteshttps://note.com/yusuke_motoyama/n/n8d7252ee7bee
