ENGINEER ADVICE
3 Key Elements To Taking Meeting Notes In The Business World
Advice for new Engineers on taking effective notes now that you are out of school and in a professional setting
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So you finally made it! 12+ years of primary schooling plus high school and now you have managed to get through all those weeks, months, and years of school to be an Engineer (or other big role). You can now put down that textbook. You have a job. This is the real world. You can Google any problem that you have instead of having to memorize random facts. Stack Overflow is fully available for use. And you can finally put away that pen and paper because you don’t have to take down all of those infernal notes all the time!
Not exactly. You have a lot to learn, young grasshopper. After graduating the sheltered world of academia and you are now out in the brutal and unforgiving business world. You are now subject to deadlines, sales projections, and business whims. There are no office hours to beg for a better grade. The world you live in is defined by the PC in front of you, the 4 gray cubicle walls around you, and the relationships that you forge at the water cooler. And now you have to go to meetings.
Yes, no more tests. No more all-nighters studying. No more dragging yourself out of bed for 3 hour labs starting at 7:30AM… Instead you are now subject to the the greatest of entertainment events that humankind has to offer: business meetings! There are horror stories about meetings and for the most part they carry a very negative connotation. There is always some truth behind stories like this. There are many meetings that provide little value to some participants. However, if done right meetings can be entertaining and interesting and can provide a lot of value to the people in them. Conflicts and be hashed out, decisions can be made. Action items can be determined. Sexy, right?
In the book Death By Meeting: A Leadership Fable the author, Patrick Lencioni makes a bold claim. He has one of the characters, who happens to be teaching the value of…
