Three months had passed, each seeming to rocket toward the deadline looming next Friday. Olga was frantic. What seemed like a lifetime to complete the project was now drawing to a fleeting few days. Meetings had occurred, but to her dismay, she could not remember where she seemed to lose control. Promises had been made, questions asked that needed research, but the project was careening south like a Canadian goose in September. In the heat of the meetings, Olga had scratched some sparse notes, but now, they made little sense, showing more disorganization than authoritative clarity.

And that’s why God made laptop computers. Try this for your next project meetings. Invite either a clerical person or an outsider who has no vested agenda in the project, but enough familiarity to spell the names. Hand them a laptop with an e-mail client (like Outlook). Preload the e-mail addresses of all the participants into a blank e-mail and instruct that notes be taken in the body of an e-mail, or at least as an e-mail attachment.

Those notes should include general summaries of items discussed, commitments made, by whom and deadlines. As soon as the meeting adjourns, press the “send” button. In my class, students always ask, “How soon after the meeting should the minutes be published?”

My answer is always: in Real Time. Everyone gets a copy immediately. -TF

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