2 ms·

> Meetings are a great candidate for handwriting notes -- and then discarding. You and I know that most meeting notes are throwaways. I hate handwriting meetin

> Meetings are a great candidate for handwriting notes -- and then discarding. You and I know that most meeting notes are throwaways. I hate handwriting meeting notes! The only way they become useful is if they're saved and searchable (to refer back to weeks or months later), and since they're only sometimes useful, taking the extra time to transcribe is annoying. I can also type faster than I can (legibly) handwrite. So it makes more sense for me to skip the extra step. Aside, I actually find the metadata (who, when, and broad topics) is what I'm usually looking for. Anything immediate gets on my to-do list, or becomes a ticket, or is part of a bigger project I'm actively working on anyway. About the only thing I hand write anymore is actually my to-do list. I've tried dozens of apps and other methods, but always give up after a while. I use a 4x6 sticky note pad, and the killer feature is it gets full every couple days. This forces me to tear it off and start over, re-writing anything still active. After doing this with the same items for long enough, I either have to do them or admit they're not important anymore (or important enough) and drop them. Physically crossing stuff off and throwing away the old sticky notes is kind of cathartic.

wenc 6y ago
I hear you. The practicability of handwriting meeting notes does depend on a few assumptions being true, i.e. improved retention of the meeting would obviate the need to retrieve notes in the first place (not always true, but in my case, often true), and that if you needed to retrieve those notes, you could (again, depends). Me personally, I never transcribe my handwritten notes -- that would be too much work. But I do keep them in an unorganized pile (they're just loose sheets). If I ever needed to retrieve a note, I'll rifle through the pile and I can usually find what I need in 1-2 minutes (I don't attend THAT many meetings). It's not the most organized approach, but it's lightweight and it works for me. Paper isn't exactly unsearchable, merely less searchable than digital. (After all human civilization did exist before computers :) But typing up meeting notes in software works fine and has its advantages, especially if there's a need to share them or to follow-up on them.

wenc 6y ago

I hear you. The practicability of handwriting meeting notes does depend on a few assumptions being true, i.e. improved retention of the meeting would obviate the need to retrieve notes in the first place (not always true, but in my case, often true), and that if you needed to retrieve those notes, you could (again, depends). Me personally, I never transcribe my handwritten notes -- that would be too much work. But I do keep them in an unorganized pile (they're just loose sheets). If I ever needed to retrieve a note, I'll rifle through the pile and I can usually find what I need in 1-2 minutes (I don't attend THAT many meetings). It's not the most organized approach, but it's lightweight and it works for me. Paper isn't exactly unsearchable, merely less searchable than digital. (After all human civilization did exist before computers :) But typing up meeting notes in software works fine and has its advantages, especially if there's a need to share them or to follow-up on them.