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• Meeting Minutes (Notes)

Meeting Minutes (Notes)¶

Each team is responsible for posting the meeting minutes to EDN in the Project Management forum for their respective projects. This keeps a record of decisions made during the project and helps absent project members, including the Client, Project Engineer, and Chief Engineer, stay updated. All team members should take turns writing meeting minutes so that everyone contributes to creating at least one set of minutes. These notes should summarize key activities and progress over the semester. In general, they must include:

• Meeting date and time
• Minutes taken by
• Attendees and absentees
  • If everyone attended: None
  • Note any late arrivals or early departures
• Agenda items discussed and key points
• Outcomes and decisions made
• Action items (who/what/when):
  • Description of the task
  • Owner of the task
  • Due date
  • If no action items: "No action item was identified."

The template file is export:template documents/Meeting Minutes.txt

Create a forum thread for each meeting in the Project Management forum, e.g., Project Management > 10/3 Class Meeting. Include the agenda, minutes, and later updates or corrections to the minutes. Avoid attachments since they aren't searchable in the EDN.

DO NOT take your minutes in MS Word and then attach a "docx" file. It is much easier for the reader to view the information directly in the post rather than having to open a separate document. Do not paste the text into the post and also attach it as a "DOCX" file, as that creates extra work for the reader. Posting as plain text also makes it easier to search for information using EDN's search function.
Post a picture or a photo of your whiteboard as an attachment.

EDN's issues tool is a great way to keep track of action items. Use the "To Do" category, fill in all the fields, and you'll have a clear record of who is responsible for what and when. You can easily update the status to track progress.

AI tools for creating meeting minutes are available. However, students practice manual meeting minutes taking skills in this course because:

1. A company may not allow employees to use online meeting minutes-taking tools because of security concerns.
2. In some states, all participants must consent to being recorded, and you may not be allowed to use an AI tool because of the (recorded) voice-to-text processing. Currently, real-time voice-to-text processing is a gray area from a legal perspective.
3. Many individuals are unwilling to speak openly when they know they are being recorded. This can be particularly problematic in identifying customers' needs (to improve a product or process).
4. AI-generated meeting minutes can contain errors, such as voice-to-text conversion errors and speaker identification errors. It is challenging to ensure the accuracy of meeting minutes and approve them without your notes to reference.