Documenting Meetings

All meetings should be documented, to include at least the following information:

• Date – when the meeting took place
• Location – where the meeting took place
• Present – who attended the meeting, from both the developer and client
• Purpose – what was the meeting relating to

Meeting notes form a vital piece of evidence when completing work for a client. Rather than a rough set of ‘he said, she said’ notes, it is preferable to present the notes in the following format:

AB: How do you want to interact with …
SB: We envisage that the user will …
AB: Ok, and would that include …

You can use initials to indicate who was speaking. Try to be as accurate as possible, and make the notes as you go along, preferably by typing. This avoids any semantic changes that could be incurred from writing them up later on.

It is good practise to then send on the meeting notes to all involved in the meeting, both for reference and to ensure that they are accurate.