to hate doing minutes of a meeting

[CaptSkippy]

Last week, due to the absence of a person who usually does the minutes, I was asked two minutes for before a meeting started to do minutes.

I hate doing minutes. I can't keep an accurate record of a meeting and participate in it at the same time. People also talk too quickly for me to take notes of all that was said. The end result is that I always end up with scores of complaints any time I have taken minutes. It also takes me a really long time to write them up afterwards and if things are busy with my main responsibilities people keep pestering me for them when I really have no time to write it all out and share them.

These days I make sure that minutes are not part of my job repsonsibilities anymore and I refuse to even consider a job where that is a requirement.

I told the person who asked that I am no good at doing minutes, that I never end up with anything useful and that I only jot down a few things for myself. Despite my telling him this, he came back later and asked me what I got. I got all of two lines of the two hours meeting. I hope his own notes were more useful, but I never agreed to do them.

So was I being unreasonable?

I could have written this myself. The idea of it makes me so anxious. I too would never consider a job where minute taking was part of the role. I've never met anyone else who understands!

I’m not really sure. Who were you asked by, was it your boss? I also hate doing minutes and am not good at skiing them. But to have been asked and only have two lines from a two hour meeting does seem a pathetic attempt.

I do too. My role is expected to do them infrequently - it's not in my job description, I'm not trained to do them, and we've got Admin staff. The argument for us doing them is that the meeting content is specialised.

YANBU to hate minute taking but only two lines over two hours? For minutes all you have to do is take down the key points and actions not word for word.

@Piggy42

I’m not really sure. Who were you asked by, was it your boss? I also hate doing minutes and am not good at skiing them. But to have been asked and only have two lines from a two hour meeting does seem a pathetic attempt.

It was not my boss.

He is in the same department but he repsonsibilities are different from mine, although for this particular project they overlap somewhat.

I did not make any attempt to take minutes. I thought he had let go of the request after I told him I am no good at taking minutes.

@JackieWeaverHandforthCouncil

YANBU to hate minute taking but only two lines over two hours? For minutes all you have to do is take down the key points and actions not word for word.

I ncan never tell what the keypoints are if I am too busy taking notes. It's usually after a meeting ends and I have some time to process it in private that I can tell the important points. Also what I usually consider important is not what a lot of people consider important.

I take part in meetings from the viewpoint of my own responsibilities and I do not keep an overview of that of other people. I have enough to be getting on with on a day to day basis, since we are quite understaffed.

I do minutes in my job. I think when you do them regularly you know what works for you, like I don’t know shorthand but I have my own shorthand. It does mean I can’t hand them to anyone else to type like but then it doesn’t take long to type them, and typing straight after the meeting is the best thing to do as it’s fresh in your head if something written down doesn’t make senseZ it is a fine art, but 2 lines in 2 hours does just smack of not even trying though.

People also talk too quickly for me to take notes of all that was said.
If you’re trying to note everything anyone said I think this is where you’re going wrong. Key points only, very brief bullets and if needed expand when typing them up.

It was not my boss.

Well unless he's properly senior to you he can jog on then can't he?

How old are you? Its relevant because I've noticed IME there's a definite element of sexism at play here.

I bloody hate doing minutes and will do anything to get out of it. I tend to zone out and then realise I haven't written anything for 20 mins, then write a load of waffle/crap to make up.

I don't love doing them but they're not hard.

It's minutes not a transcript, it just needs to capture the talking points and agreed actions so my basic format is

Date:
Time:

Attendees:
Apologies:

Agenda: - copied from calendar invite or take a photo/screen print of the slide deck

Actions and agreements (formatted as a table)

Summary. Action/agreement. Owner. Due date.

Jack hates Jill. Action: Mediation session. Joan. 15th April
Date of dinner. Agreement: next Sunday. Jill. 15th April

Does your manager want you to do the notes? If you can get your manager on your side then anytime this other person asks or expects you to do the minutes then you can direct him to your manager.

Would you not write more than 2 lines in 2 hours anyway in a meeting?

He could have taken them himself then. As long as you noted your actions, he should have done his.

Are they just expecting you to do it because you are female?

I am in my forties. I work in tech and I am only 1 of two women in my department.

@Hercisback

Would you not write more than 2 lines in 2 hours anyway in a meeting?

I write only what pertains to my own responsibilities and this meeting did not have a lot of action points for me.

Sounds like you were given the job as you’re female…

I record on my phone then type up as said in a PP

I was banned from minute taking in a previous job because ai wrote them up with a heavily sarcastic tone

I used to be a PA and verbatim minute taking was part of my role, but I was not a participant so that was my sole focus.
Very different role now but I often take minutes while participating and sometimes chairing (not verbatim, thank god). I concentrate on recording key discussion points and their outcomes, and stick to the agenda for the framework. I type them rather than handwrite as it's quicker so I only have to spellcheck and tidy up a bit later. It's a bit trickier if you have to record exactly who said what, and verbatim, but it's rare for that level of detail to be needed and if it was, I'd ask for a dedicated minute taker.

Could you use a dictaphone or your phone to record them and type them up later? This is what I used to do when I did them, that way you can still take an active part in the meeting. Inform everyone at the start they’ll be recorded so you can do accurate minutes and you could always turn it off it anything sensitive is being discussed.

@Piggy42

Sounds like you were given the job as you’re female…

I agree.

You were definitely not unreasonable and absolutely stand your ground.

Sorry but managing 2 lines in a 2 hour meeting is ridiculous, you honestly can’t remember any of the discussions which took place other than those which directly rebate to your work?!

@HalfShrunkMoreToGo

I don't love doing them but they're not hard.

It's minutes not a transcript, it just needs to capture the talking points and agreed actions so my basic format is

Date:
Time:

Attendees:
Apologies:

Agenda: - copied from calendar invite or take a photo/screen print of the slide deck

Actions and agreements (formatted as a table)

Summary. Action/agreement. Owner. Due date.

Jack hates Jill. Action: Mediation session. Joan. 15th April
Date of dinner. Agreement: next Sunday. Jill. 15th April

This is ideal.

Yes minutes are a pain in the arse, and I totally sympathise with you OP for being asked to do them last minute. But if ever required to do it again in the future, this format suggested above is perfect.

It sounds like your colleague tried to railroad you into doing the minutes, and even though you said no, they assumed you were doing it. So to avoid that in future - if you're asked, you say no, but then say 'before we proceed can we agree who is taking the minutes as I am unable to do so'. Don't let them carry on with the meeting assuming you're doing it only to find out 2 hours later that you aren't.

I hate doing it as well. I used to work in an organisation where we had a pretty flat structure of manager - several people of equal seniority managing different remits - several admin staff whose job was to assist and part of that was meeting minutes. However, in meetings where admin staff weren't allowed to attend due to confidentiality issues or noone was available, the manager would ALWAYS ask me, the youngest of the senior staff by some margin, to do the minutes. I would be cheesed off because like you, I felt like I couldn't contribute properly while taking minutes, I wouldn't have minded rotating between us but it was ALWAYS me, and not that I consider admin work or minutes 'beneath' me, but when I pointed out that I was struggling to engage with the meeting and create minutes, nothing changed, and it told me a lot about how I was viewed within my team. Younger woman = assistant, older men = important strategists.