Best way to record to do notes

[officepa]

I am sure somebody can advise of the best way forward for me here - all suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

I have meetings with bossie nearly every other day, sometime in person and sometimes on the phone.  When at such meetings, I use an A4 spiral bound book and note in here what work is needed to be done (always come away with about 10 different new things on top of what already working on), conversation notes etc etc so I have it all in one place when back at my desk working through it.

Used to take in reporters size notepad but found this too small and was getting through pages and pages.

I like the spiral bound as I rarely tear anything out and therefore can refer back if necessary.

However, after a week and longer, i find that some notes have been completed, some not and pages looking very messy.  Don't want to have to write out again and again all outstanding issues thus ensuring it all is on one clean page every so often and wonder if someone else has devised a better system for what I am trying to achieve.

Hope that makes sense. Thank you

Edited by cathy17 on 03/03/09 03:23 PM.

[gee4]

I am sure we have covered this topic many times.  We all use different methods so here is my response.

I use the Task feature in Outlook especially when I have tasks to complete that will take longer than just 5 mins eg. travel, organising a meeting or event, following up on a report etc.

I write basic notes in my A4 pad (if given verbally) and then transfer that to the Task feature.  If the details are sent in an email I copy them to the Task feature in the same way, creating a new Task for every project.

When I create a new Task I list what needs to be done to complete the task in hand and update this every time one or more items has been actioned.  I set reminders for each item I have listed eg. if Item 1 complete, then I set a reminder for Item 2.

I always keep my A4 pads for reference and do a clear out once a year.  If I note phone nos or any kind of detail relating to the tasks, I usually transfer them to my Contacts for future reference.

I'm what you might call an electronic freak, but I find this works best for me as I detest working with lots of paper.

Hope this helps.

[gee4]

Cathy,

Think you posted similar recently, check link below....

To Do lists - what is the best way? under Help...Specifically.

[gee4]

See also Project, job, call, task tracking? in Soundoff.

[gee4]

Also Do you take daily notes / keep a journal? also posted in Soundoff.

[officepa]

Thanks. Yes, I have now found previous posts and have gained info from them.

I will use my calendar on Outlook for dates/timed reminders so have some pop up which is helpful but do not always want to transfer notes taken on paper when in meetings.  I often have to travel during the day for my job to one of 4 other offices and always carry my pad with me as I do not have access to PC so find it works best for me on paper.

I like paper as odd little notes relating to my main note can be captured easily that you can't transfer to Outlook.

[gee4]

Cathy,

What about typing up notes from each meeting/project, printing out the latest version, slotting them into a folder or binder and keeping it closeby ready for your next meeting?  That way when you go to various sites or meetings you have the latest notes to hand as well as a nice professional looking folder in which to keep them.

Do you type/save minutes from meetings?  I always take the latest set of minutes to any meeting I am attending.

We all work in different ways and of course certain things work for certain people.

[officepa]

Thanks Gee,
Yes, I do type up minutes and take latest version to meetings (and spare copies as nobody else seems to bring any and makes me look super efficient!!).

Good idea about the latest notes - I do something similar rather than cart around 10 different project folders.

My main 'problem' is all the little extra things I have to do that are not related to big projects but are on their own.  These are what I jot down during catch up meetings and often leave with 20 little things to do and just cross them off when done.  Was trying to make it look less messy when some have been done and some not - think i will have to re-write on a clean page when I think looking too messy.
Think I will invest in a better quality hard backed large notepad and just use this.

[gee4]

Cathy one other thing you could do is, re-write your To Do list at the end of every week.  That way you are starting with a new list and one that is up to date.

[laurafmcdermott]

My question is, why do you feel like it should be neat?  Is it for your own personal satisfaction?  I'm assuming no one sees this but you.  If you like seeing a nice neat page (and this I can certainly understand, I'm like that myself), then I would do as gee suggested and just write out a new list each week on a fresh page, transferring those things that are still pending.  However, if you just feel like it "should" be neater, I wouldn't bother.  I'd just use post-it flags on things that still need doing but aren't in your currently used pages.

[msmarieh]

When I used to do this, I would draw columns on the steno pad. I had a skinny first column where I wrote the date, a skinny second column where I put a check mark when it was done, then the third column was the description field. Dependig on the job, I sometimes did additional columns (and used a larger pad of paper) to include a column for follow up notes and requester of the task. The suggestion of post-its to flag outstanding items is great one - you could color code them by person too for example or by when they are due (red - today, yellow-this week, green-this month or whenever).

Marie
Peer Moderator