Minutes and reports of work done
Meeting minutes, decision log, official minutes and intervention report: their sections, what goes in and what stays out, and how to write actions with an owner and a deadline.
- 29 cards
- 5 topics
- Free
The outline, topic by topic
Each topic is weighted the way the exam weighs it.
- Concepts
- Questions
- Sort and link
- Scenarios
- Understand
A few cards from the deck
Meeting minutes: what is it?
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A document that faithfully, neutrally and concisely records what was said and decided in a meeting.
It reports and does not comment: no “I”, no opinion, no judgement of people. It goes out quickly so participants can correct it while the meeting is still fresh.
Which sentence can appear as it is in minutes?
- The team chooses PostgreSQL for the database.
- I think PostgreSQL is the best choice, which the team finally admitted.
- Unfortunately, the team had to give up MySQL.
- Mr Petit again refused to choose a database.
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The team chooses PostgreSQL for the database.
The right sentence is factual and attributes the decision to the group. The others carry an “I”, a judgement (“unfortunately”) or a reproach to a person: not the role of minutes.
Minutes report without a personal …: write “the team chooses PostgreSQL”, not “I think PostgreSQL is better”.
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Minutes report without a personal opinion: write “the team chooses PostgreSQL”, not “I think PostgreSQL is better”.
The writer speaks for the group: their opinion would make the text open to dispute by the other attendees.
Decision log: what is it?
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A short document that keeps only the decisions made and the actions to carry out, without the detail of the discussion.
It reads in two minutes and works as a follow-up table: each line has an owner and a deadline, and the next meeting starts from it.
Minutes contain the line “Léa will look at the backups”. Three weeks later nobody knows where she stands. What was missing?
- The names of the other attendees on that day
- A past-tense verb to show it is already decided
- A sentence on how important backups are
- What she must deliver, and by when
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What she must deliver, and by when
“Look at” produces nothing checkable. An action states the deliverable (“writes the backup procedure”) and the deadline: you can then chase it and see that it is done.