I was sitting in a requirements gathering meeting for a new project today and found myself taking notes, but those notes were jotted haphazardly all over my notepad.
Are there any useful note-taking techniques for programmers?
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A paper notebook. Title / context at the top along with the date, then a list of attendees (not too fussy, initials, where I don't know full names (e.g. on a conference call) then I'll just put "Steve, company X"). Then everything gets marked down as a bullet point, actions get a ! in the margin in front of them along with the initials of who the action is on, questions and queries that need further clarification get a ? (both highlighted this way so they can be easily identified later). |
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I'd hope that the meeting is being recorded, and someone will be e-mailing all participants meeting minutes shortly after it has concluded. This helps people pay more attention to the actual meeting and helps to ensure everyone walked away with the same understanding of whatever was discussed. I carry around a spiral notebook with me, everywhere that I go. I'm obsessive about writing down most of what goes on during any given day. You never know when you need to refer back, or perhaps justify something. So, I use plain old paper with a 'fast' pen that writes easily and doesn't smudge. It's important to test the pen in the store.. even the super expensive gel pens run easily. You pay a little more initially, but a good Cross roller ball will never let you down. |
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Usually I put points in bullets. If there are action items, I use separate pages for each person. If it is requirements, each requirement goes in its own line. Usually at the end of the meeting, I use the same notes to summarize. |
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I tend to jot a lot of rubbish as well in meetings but normally as soon as the meeting is over and I go back to my desk I go through the notes and expand upon them in point form. It is impossible to write everything down although you could record it, but I have never seen anyone do that. |
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I use iPad and iAWriter (http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/ia-writer/id392502056?mt=8) for keywords / bullet points. Nice feature is that it syncs automatically to dropbox. Then at my desk I just process saved file. |
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I normally take a Spiral notebook to the meeting. We hold lots of phone conference as well as face to face meeting. My bad experience is, I hardly use the notes I take down. Maybe it's due to nature of work I do or its just me. My experience says, it's not really worth taking notes during such meetings. As you are noting down points, you may miss out on something important. At least this happens to me. Usually, we have meeting minutes mailed out after the meeting and that serves the purpose of note taking. If you need to note down something elaborate, it's best to have those items available on requirements doc, which is done in most cases anyway. At best, you would be noting down few small points and the organization of those would hardly matter. If the talks in the meeting are the only source of communication, then it's best to have the whole conversation recorded. |
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I use two options, depending on the type of meeting. When there is an agenda, I take a stack of index cards and a pencil w/ eraser. It's like a wide screen sticky note. When it's a brain storming meeting, I use my iPad and some mind mapping software. I use MindNode, but that's a personal preference. It's great, as you can move ideas around as the meeting progresses, then email yourself/team the ideas in outline form. |
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I use index cards, especially for requirements gathering meetings. One idea/requirement per card. This allows me to organize the notes however I need to, and sometimes the index cards will go directly onto my task board. |
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While we're putting forward how we do things, the worst I've seen. One client I've worked with records the meetings so the meetings can be typed up by a secretary. This secretary isn't technical, has limited domain knowledge and wasn't in the meeting her so understanding of what was discussed and decided isn't exactly ideal and she doesn't know most of the people so who is talking is best guess based on the voices (fortunately we're in Scotland and they're in England so there are at least some distinct accents). From time to time the host of the meeting stops the whole thing while he tries to paraphrase what's been said in the previous few minutes for her benefit (having 6 people sit around for a couple of minutes doing nothing while he does so - do that five times and that's a man hour gone) at which point everyone has to try and remember where they were. To be fair to the secretary she does a fair job given the constraints but the whole process is a staggeringly inefficient way of getting notes of somewhat limited accuracy. Needless to say I do not recommend it. |
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voice recorder + furious typing on laptop |
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Rhodia makes a nice meeting notepad. I have one that I use for non-technical meetings, as it has defined sections for attendees, action items and such. I tend to sketch out diagrams (schematics, sequence diagrams, etc) in technical meetings, so I take something with a grid instead of the Rhodia pad to those. The Rhodia's made with Clairefontaine paper, so if you enjoy the physical act of writing, you'll really like it. The paper also works well with gel or rollerball pens, as it doesn't let the ink "bleed" and spread out. |
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