Even the most agile project team needs to document the various aspects of what they are trying to accomplish. If you prescribe to more rigid development cycles and continual improvement models, there seems to be a template and detailed process for making tons of documents that don’t seem to bear much fruit. While applicable at times, it is hard to draft a House of Quality structure when your boss gives you 3 days to put a project timeline together.

We can’t let paperwork and needless documentation weigh us down, but having sufficient information to follow, plan and protect ourselves is critically important to each and every step or a project. In a broad sense, documentation for projects should fall into two major categories.

1. Journaling
2. Notes/Follow up documentation

Journaling

Journaling is a more private method of documentation that is not intended to be shared with others in your project team. The point of a journal is not to hold all the information your head. Despite popular belief, most of us are terrible at remembering things. So when you write something down, it is always best to do it in a way that allows you to recall it easily. This is where the professional journal comes in.

The journal is structured in a very specific way, because this method works. The first set up takes some time, but it is easy to maintain once you are established. These techniques allow you to sort important information in layers, and stop you from forgetting important details. Why is this method better than a digital notebook and calendar combination? I won’t downplay the vital importance of having your calendar synced and a digital notebook like Evernote, OneNote, or even a running word document. However, the act of writing something down does help you remember it. This isn’t opinion, this is basic neuroscience. Our brains are divided into regions that allow us to store different information in specific ways. In this process we associate spatial information with content, location, script used, and size. These variables are the keys that will allow us to recall the information easier later. This occurs even if we do not realize it.

The Set Up:
To set up your journal, you will need a sturdy notebook that will be able to withstand many sessions of reviewing old entries. You will want to avoid anything with perforated pages and that has a flimsy cover. Over the course of my projects I have kept many journals which have ended up on a book shelf and used for reference years later. It takes discipline to created and continue a library like this, but the benefits greatly outweigh the time invested.

A journal should have at minimum 200-300 pages available, though you may not need them all. Nor should you feel the need to decorate every free space available. The first section of your journal should have a key, in which you will outline a sense of shorthand for ongoing task management. Few and simple are best:   

    *  = task is pending

    x  = task complete

    | = task has been carried over from a previous timeline

Leave Approximately 10% of your journal for indexing, about 20 pages out of 200 is sufficient. Note your index pages with a I.1, I.2, I.3 in the upper corners of each page. Then start a page 1, number your pages normally (1, 2, 3..) as far as you wish, but be diligent in keeping your pages noted cleanly and in correct sequence. Every key piece of information you wish to remember will be noted in the index with the Key word and page number. Consider this an analog tagging system.

Future Log:
With the base of your journal complete, take two pages and organize them by month for the next 6 month, with 3 months to a page as shown below.

This segment is your future log where you will take notice of major events and milestones. This is not the section to fill with minor details, but rather significant events that you must observe. I often use major deadlines, staff departures, new employee orientation dates, and school calendars for labor pool planning.

After your future log is created, you will need a monthly and weekly log set up. As you can guess the monthly log is a finer detail of the future log, and the weekly log a finer detail of that. Each log must be reviewed on a regular bases and updated at the end of it’s life cycle.

Monthly Log:

The monthly log is set up with the day number and day of week to the far left, followed by the event/target. Use “X” for Thursday and “Y” for Sunday to avoid any confusion. While this seems like a simple anecdote. I confused a significant event by glancing at my journal too quickly and planned for a Saturday, when I should have planned for a Sunday. Don’t make my mistake. On the right page of the journal, you will list all the essential goals that you need to complete this month. Goals can be carried forward to other months.

Weekly Log:

Like your monthly log, the dates and events are organized on the left while keeping tasks/project goals to the right. Each weekly goal should be listed under it’s monthly goal, as to orient your action to the larger task at hand. This helps keep the scope of your future plans while focusing on weekly level detail.

Your daily log will be organized with the tasks you need to complete on that calendar day, or tasks that were migrated from the previous calendar day. Keep you task list light and manageable. It is not your project plan, nor do you need to keep scope here. That is the point of the monthly and weekly logs. Track your minor tasks and continue to add to this section as the day progresses. Need to call someone in an hour, write it down. You may lose track of time but remember to carry this forward at the end of the day and keeping in touch with an important contact. The daily log can be set up so that you dedicate the entire left page to your task list, and the entire right to the journal. Here is a video where I explain how to carry tasks forward.

The daily journal is the single most important part of this process, and often the most skipped. Your task is to summarize your entire day in about 5 minutes. You should list major accomplishments, roadblocks, and questions you have for upcoming meetings. You should keep it brief as possible, but may find that you can quickly fill the page in about a minute with some practice. Once complete, highlight or underline key terms and put these in your index. By adding an additional 10 minutes to your day you have created a log that allows you to step back into pace when you return to work. This being even more critically important if you do not plan to return to work for a few days. Most find a cadence toward the end of their day. This is when we get most responses to our emails, and when we have to make scheduling adjustments. You will look down to realize the day is over, but have many tasks and documents open. This is when you journal. Log where you are, what you are doing, and re-read this the following day. Plan a close out to your tasks and it will help you keep stride and rhythm with even the most complicated  projects.  

Avoid using digit platforms like OneNote, Evernote in lieu of a journal. Not only do journals have a better neural process for recall, there are other practical advantages to keeping a pen and paper nearby that we often forget. First, no battery life to observe. For a busy individual who uses a mobile phone and laptop all day, I cannot afford to be locked out of essential tasks. I can neither afford to write something down and not know where that information is later. Second, there are no synchronizing issues to worry about. As software moves more towards “software as a service” design, cloud based applications often require an internet connection to be present in order to function. If you are using software that synchronizes on and off line, you need a connection for the most updated version. I have found moving from my desktop to my laptop when going to a meeting inconvenient and that I’m lacking critical information in the moment due to a synch error. This is every more present in the healthcare setting where application restrictions can be much pronounced. Finally, the best reason to not go digital is simply ease of use. One cannot deny the simplicity in writing something down. Once you have a journal established keeping it updated will become a standard part of your day, and will be an effortless task.

Notetaking, and how to do it correctly.

Notes and meeting cadence: how to run a successful working meeting while documenting your project criteria

At the opposite end of the spectrum to journaling, notes are meant to be shared and archived. They will guide you and your team to success. A note-taker worth their salt will be able to accurately summarizing a meeting even if they are leading it. You must categorically define criteria for follow up, and keep everyone informed. I have watched many team leads push this task off to the lowest employee on the totem pole. Doing so leaves their protection and well-being at risk. The egomaniac believes they will remember all the important aspects of a meeting, and the lazy will assume someone else is being critical about this task. In addition, we we assume everyone heard the same message. Do not make this assumption because it is simply not true. Unless you have expressed your understanding to all stakeholders at a meeting you cannot be sure everyone is on the same page. The project lead must review and comment on all meeting summaries, as well as keep detailed files of decisions that are made. There can be no compromise in this for projects to be successful.

Preparing and taking notes requires time and effort, there is no way around this. For the manager or lead who “just doesn’t have time for that”, you also do not have time to be successful. You must put aside additional time at some point in your schedule to manage information. This can be done during your “close-out” time, or even while winding down at the end of the night, or even first thing in the morning. Find a rhythm that works for you, but be diligent and scrupulous in your documentation.

During one important project with a software developer, I had made the point to send a summary after every meeting based on my notes. At times there were some minor corrections, but never did any individual challenge the information being presented. At the close of this project one program manager claimed the application was not up to expectations. When questioned by my director, I had 56 summaries at my disposal which laid out all production criteria, final outcomes, and approvals. Needless to say, there was no further discussion. Simply put, documentation is not something I lean on others to do. In this section we will discuss the best methods to take notes, and what formats. The tips and tricks of note-taking while directing a meeting, and how you should follow up for thorough documentation.

Be cautious to not confuse the act of writing an email the same as taking notes, nor should one use a general email account for note archiving. All email applications have size limits on their archival files and can be quirky when searching information. I have personally lost an archive file that became too big, resulting in thousands of messages that were critical pieces of documentation to be inaccessible. Since then I have made permanent changes to my habits.

Notes are fluid and require editing. They must be easily distributed and easy to read. For these reasons notes should be taken on a digital platform, ideally with an autosave feature. Good examples are OneNote, Evernote, etc. These applications will vary by the flavor of the year, but they should have the following functions:

Essentials

1. Basic html/rich text formatting – This allows easy transition to emails and word documents.
2. Internal organization and hierarchy with data tags or meta search capabilities – You need one place to organize all your notes but be able to delineate by project. Searching across all notes for keywords is a must.
3. Have built-in backup capabilities – Any file can be corrupted, you must have backups of your notes. Period.

Non-Essential, but nice to have

1. “To do” flagging – The ability to flag or tag items as at least a “to-do” and then filter by this tag will help reduce the strain of making daily task lists in your bullet journal. At the end of the day while decompressing the information that you’ve accumulated you can look for items you may have missed in the last few days as well.
2. Document merging – files can become overbearing. At the end of a project I will archive all the notes and archive as a single PDF. This is a nice feature to have.
3. Exporting – either as word document types (.doc, .docx) or as .txt, .rtf. etc.
4. Ability to save attachments  – reference emails, handouts, or even copies of slide decks.

System Requirements

Success requires commitment and investment, project leads should have a laptop or like device at their disposal that they can routinely rely on to take notes at meetings. This device must have a solid state drive and capable of suspending/hibernating without shutting down and losing work. This should also occur when the battery is low. Today, these requirements seem laughable, but I am often surprised when a project lead shows up to a kick-off meeting holding a 90lb laptop from 1994. Invest in lightweight and reliable technology.

Good resources are:

• Leveno products with double screen hinges or are fully transformable between laptop and tablet
• Microsoft surface/Ipads/Galaxy Notes WITH a dedicated keypad case

You must be able to get up at a moments notice without having to save your work. Be able to sit down and have your machine instantly start. Anyone with a hectic schedule knows even a few minutes of delay can derail important interactions. Keep your software and hardware reliable, and top quality. You cannot compromise in this area.

Taking notes as a meeting lead

Taking notes when you are only participating in a meeting is one thing, but having to lead a meeting and document can be very challenging. This section assumes you are bullet journaling and using a laptop or like device to take notes. This also assumes you are not presenting in a formal environment, but rather in a working-style meeting.

Set Up

Setting up for a meeting is the most fundamental instruction anyone can provide. Never walk into a meeting you plan to lead without the following:

• Agenda without details. Create a single list of all the major topics you need to address. During the meeting place an x if unable to review entirely. You should distribute this copy.
• Expected attendance, with names and emails typed out. This allows distribution of notes to be prepared even if you do not have access to email. The ability to create a draft and place in your outbox until you are connected saves a lot of time.
• Detailed points to be reviewed and made during the meeting. This may seem redundant but an agenda is not just a list of topics to be discussed, nor should it be 50 pages of excruciating details. Summarize each major point in 1-2 sentences and provide rational/proof in 2-3 if required. You should not distribute this copy, keep it for your summary outline.
• Attach reference documents for easy access if required during the meeting.
• Provide a space after each topic Discussion and Action items
• Content to support your action items. You must also use this area to catalog major decisions made under each topic. Note by whom and tag with a keyword or use [[keyword]] next to this major decision. When having to search you can start with [[ and further refine rather than finding every word you have typed of the same context.

Tricks for controlling cadence:
In your agenda note references to other members at the meeting. I will do this after my major points are made, specifically to give me time to take notes. A specific question to a reference person controls the flow and allows you to get your documentation into order. Then as the discussion continues you are ready to note important comments, decisions, and tasks required. I will rotate my questions to members of the meeting as to not pick on only one person, and ask open ended questions to encourage more discussion. If no comments are made, the break in flow is still enough time to reorient your notes.

SEND THE SUMMARY!

Yes it is tedious, but send that summary! Making sure all individuals at a meeting hear what you heard will protect you, the project interested, your stakeholders, and the end goal. You are all part of a team, but not everyone will hear the same message. Make sure you keep everyone on the same page.

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