The meeting that actually produces something
Paste the notes as you typed them - half sentences, no structure, decisions mixed into prose. Decisions are kept as a record with the reason; the actions become tracked jobs on the right people's lists.
Bosun reads meeting notes as they were typed and separates three things that are handled differently afterwards: decisions, which are kept as a record with the reason given; actions, which become ordinary tracked jobs assigned to the people named; and open questions, which stay unresolved rather than being turned into work nobody agreed to do.
- Input
- Notes as typed, no structure needed
- Decisions
- Recorded with the reason
- Actions
- Tracked jobs, chased normally
- Open questions
- Kept unresolved
- Who can file notes
- Owner and managers only
From notes to record
- "We're moving to Keystone"
- Decision + reason
- "Maria to order rotors Fri"
- Job, assigned, dated
- "Nobody knows the warranty"
- Job, unassigned
- "Do we need a detailer?"
- Open question
- "Counter closes at 5"
- Decision, no job
A decision is not a job
"We're switching to Keystone for brake parts" is settled. Filing it as a task puts a deadline on a decision and leaves it hanging on somebody's list forever. "Maria will order the rotors before Friday" is work, and it needs chasing. "Do we need a second detailer over summer?" is neither - it is unresolved, and turning it into a job invents a commitment nobody made.
Keeping the three apart is what makes the record worth reading six months later, when the useful part is usually the reason behind a decision rather than the decision itself.
- Decisions keep the reason given, because that is what fades first
- A proposal argued and left open is an open question, not a decision
- Actions get a deadline only where the notes state one - "before Friday" counts, the meeting date does not
- Work nobody claimed is tracked but left unassigned, so it surfaces as needing an owner
It refuses to invent
No manufactured decisions
A proposal argued both ways and left unresolved is filed as an open question, never as something settled.
No invented owners
Work nobody claimed is tracked unassigned, not quietly given to whoever typed the notes.
No invented deadlines
A meeting held on Thursday does not make its actions due Thursday. Only stated deadlines are set.
The notes are kept whole
The original text is stored verbatim, so nothing is lost to the extraction and you can always read what was written.
Owner-only
Meeting notes create work for other people, so only an owner or manager can file them.
Everyone is told
Anyone who picked up an action hears about it directly, not just the person who typed the notes up.
More of the assistant
On this page
Do the notes need a particular format?
No. Half sentences, shorthand, no punctuation and decisions buried in prose are all normal, and all read fine. The tests for this feature deliberately use badly typed notes, because that is what real notes look like.
Can it read a recording?
Not today - it reads typed notes. Transcription is the missing step, and it is on the list; tell us if it matters to you.
Can I file notes from WhatsApp?
Yes. Send them starting with the word "meeting" and the reply tells you what was recorded, what became a job and what is still open.