What a meeting decided and who does what by when, for the people who were there and the ones who weren't.
Minutes have two kinds of reader. Some were in the room and want to know what they agreed to do. The rest want to know what changed. Neither wants a transcript. One made-up residents' committee met for 70 minutes, and the box at the top of its minutes takes one to read. Copy the layout. The content comes from your own notes, checked by someone else who was there.
Who it's for
Whoever took the notes: a committee secretary, a project lead, the person whose turn it was. Send it the next day to everyone who attended and everyone who should have, while people still remember what they said yes to.
It suits any meeting that decides things, such as a board, a team's weekly or a parents' association. Some bodies, a company board for one, must keep minutes in a set form, signed or filed. Keep that record as your rules say, and send a page like this alongside it.
What a good one contains
- The outcomes, ahead of everything. The sample's first box has four lines: elevator repair approved, a 4% fee rise recommended, bikes to be tagged, packages undecided. Plenty of readers stop there.
- Who was there, and whether it counted. Five of seven committee members, with the four needed for a vote stated. A decision made by too few people gets challenged later.
- One decision per topic, as a full sentence. "Accept Corbel Lift Service's quote of $18,400 to replace the door operator" can be acted on. "Elevator discussed" can't.
- Two or three lines of why. Two quotes came in, and the cheaper one could start sooner. That's enough to stop an absent member reopening the question.
- Action items with one owner and a date. "The committee will look into lockers" belongs to nobody. In the sample, Abena owes two locker prices by Tue Jan 5.
- What was held over. Three items, each with the reason it wasn't settled, so nobody thinks their topic was dropped.
- How to correct it. A named person, a deadline, and a line saying the minutes are a draft until the next meeting approves them.
Leave out who said what
The pull is to write down the argument: who objected, who got heated, who came round. Resist it. Under a topic, nobody is named. Names go in the attendance list, on the action items, and on a dissent someone has asked to have noted. Minutes that quote people get fought over line by line at the next meeting.
When someone spots a mistake, fix the page in the conversation where you made it. The link people already have then opens the corrected minutes.
How to send it
With a password. Minutes name neighbors and sums of money, so they aren't for the public. One password for the building, the same every month, is easier than asking 40 households to sign in.
Every page you publish gets one link that opens in any browser. You choose who can open it: anyone with the link, anyone with the password, or only the people and company domains you name, who sign in with Google or Microsoft. Change the page later and the link stays the same.
