Taking notes with pen and paper

I recently had a bit of a shift in my job. Instead of writing a lot of code and designing good technical systems, I have started to have more customer interaction and be part of more meetings. Which is fine; I generally like people, so this is a good match. This means a bit less time in front of a computer and a bit more time in meetings, which, of course, comes with some additional challenges.

Having efficient meetings

Meetings are always a bit of a drag. I’m typically not a big fan of meetings, but they do serve a very specific purpose. They are great for creative brainstorming, they are a good tool to ensure everyone talks about the same things, and meetings are mostly much less susceptible to misunderstandings than writing an email.

On the other hand, they can also be a drag. In my opinion, there are a few things that are important to ensure a successful outcome of the meeting:

First, the meeting needs to have a clear goal; otherwise, it is just a bunch of people trying to figure out what is going on. Second, meetings need to have an agenda so it’s clear what the meeting aims to achieve. Finally, meetings should be limited in time to ensure swift progress.

If we are thinking from a business standpoint, being efficient in meetings is of such high importance, since having multiple people present means that any inefficiencies are multiplied by the number of attendees. Research suggests that the average professional spends about 23 hours per week in meetings, with executives reporting that 67% of meetings are failures.

Ensuring successful meetings

Efficiency is only one part of the path to a successful meeting. There are a few other elements. For example, it is important that people can use the strengths of a meeting to ensure the goal is met. In my experience, meetings generally work well for brainstorming, discussing challenges, and finding new solutions. As such, they should hopefilly not be interrupted by technology, or as little as possible.

I’m not quite sure why technology is such a hindrance for good, creative meetings, but I have always seen that too many screens (and by that, I mean more than one screen at the max) result in too much distraction to have a focused discussion. As such, I think using laptops should be limited in meetings; maybe one person presenting something is fine, but if there are multiple people taking notes on devices, that is generally too much. Several studies have found that handwritten notes lead to better recall and understanding¹ compared to typed notes, which might explain why analog note-taking feels more effective.

Note-taking

Which finally brings me to my challenge: how can I take good notes in a meeting? I think those notes have to be done by hand; otherwise, it’s not going to work. Currently, I take notes on an A4 notepad that is company branded and has squared paper. This generally works, but it is a bit awkward to write on a notepad, and this also leads to plenty of single papers floating around, instead of having a place where all my notes go. And if I’m to be honest, I very seldom go back to these notes² because as they are loose papers, I never have the right ones with me.

Additionally, I also have a smaller note pad on my desk to write down to-dos, and finally, sometimes I use Post-its to keep track of stuff I want to do or should still do. Overall, it is quite a mess³, so I have been looking to find a solution to streamline this a bit.

I figured out I need at least two different notebook formats, as the process of easily and quickly writing something down on the go and taking more detailed notes in a meeting are wholly different things.

Finding the size was not easy, and to be completely honest, I’m not sure my process is finished as yet. Starting off from my A4 notepad that I’m currently using, I decided to go a bit smaller so that it is a bit more handy.

The B5 size looks like a great compromise between being practical and being as big as possible for writing. But if I look at taking the notebook somewhere more mobile, especially looking at potentially also using it on the go, the B6 size also becomes quite appealing. It is more in the size where it doesn’t necessarily need to be carried in a backpack.

Finally, an A6 flip book—apparently also known as a reporter’s notebook—might be the practical solution for on the go. I’ve seen models where you can also rip out pages from the notebook, which seems to add another layer of convenience. The design of these notebooks dates back to the early 20th century, when journalists needed something compact yet functional for taking notes during interviews.

As seen in the text above, it is not super clear yet, but I will try out different formats and see what works. What is clear for me so far is that I will try one of the small flip books; it seems like this could help against the random Post-it notes.

Postscript: writing utensils

Of course, writing is really hard without a pen. And so far, I have only thought about the notebooks; the pens will have to wait. And I’m sure I will put some energy into the pens as well, since the current situation is not it: