Victoria, Noveo Senior Business Analyst, systematizes information about the Minutes of Meeting and provides examples of best practices.

In outsourced development, online meetings and workshops with the customer are an integral part of the work; it is usually during such calls that the development details, functionality, and architecture of the application are clarified. And, of course, everything that was agreed upon at the meeting should be recorded, so as not to forget any details and to make sure that everyone in the team is on the same page.

Minutes of Meeting, or “MoMs”, is a meeting summary written for the sake of creating a paper track of verbal interactions. It is a written record of what was discussed and decided during the meeting. MoMs help to preserve key points and decisions and provide clarity and common understanding between all participants in the meeting, between the development team and stakeholders on the customer side.

Why do you need Minutes of Meeting?

• Legal relevance: in many EU countries, electronic correspondence is legally binding which makes Minutes of Meeting an important document for confirming agreements and decisions.
• Transparency of communications: Minutes of Meeting provide clarity of communications between the project team, clients, and other stakeholders. Having a record helps confirm agreements and capture expectations. 
• Keeping track of details: Minutes of Meeting help you remember the nuances discussed and keep track of tasks.

How do you prepare Minutes of Meeting?

1. Agenda: where any meeting or workshop begins

Sometimes agendas are just text messages, saying "We are presenting the developed functionality and discussing priorities for the next release". Alternatively, an agenda can also be a list of questions that require preparation and information gathering, sent in advance. In any case, agendas should be prepared before the meeting.

Here is an example of a meeting agenda.

Call agenda 11/01/2024

Features to review:

• Dashboard states (Figma link)

MVP features questions:

• Notifications: when and by which action the notifications are marked as seen?
• Templates: it seems that this functionality is already implemented (spec link), minor changes in UI can be done. TBD on the call.
• Bookmarks: shall the bookmark be shared among the workgroups/roles or bookmarks are saved on a profile level?

To clarify with CTO:

• SSO Authorization: what SSO provider shall be used? Any API documentation?
• Integration with CRM: do you have the API documentation?

To clarify with the marketing team:

1. How often are the marketing leaflets updated?
2. Are leaflets different for different stores or points of sale?

2. Preparation and facilitation of a meeting

It is a good idea to send out invitations and agendas to all meeting participants via email. However, before sending out invitations, consider the following:

• Timing: how long is the discussion planned to take? Here’s a little tip: you shouldn’t plan meetings for longer than 1.5 hours. Generally, it’s recommended to keep your meetings under an hour long.
• Participants: chances are that you do not need all stakeholders and team members on the same call. Additionally, fewer participants make a meeting easier to plan. When planning invitations, go through the agendas and try to analyze who you need specifically to answer each of the questions on your agenda.

Great, the meeting is scheduled, and the invitations are sent out. So, what do we do during the meeting?

• Keep track of time and make sure the meeting flow stays on track to end as scheduled.
• Avoid digressing, going off the agenda, and unnecessarily delving into details that can be discussed later.
• If time is running out but you still have discussion points, it's worth talking about scheduling a follow-up call.

3. Minutes of Meeting as an email

Minutes of Meeting as an email is the most common way of communicating on a project, specifically distributing client meeting reports.

Tips:

• Write the Minutes of Meeting in a text document and let other team members review and proofread them.
• Write the Minutes of Meeting based on meeting agendas. For example, write answers to the agendas' questions in the same document, highlighting them in a different color.
• You might as well distribute the Minutes of Meeting as a Google Doc instead of a regular email, as it allows for commentary from meeting participants.
• You might also mention anything that wasn’t discussed in a meeting and fix the follow-up meeting agreements.

Example of Minutes of Meeting email:

Hello Antoine,

Thank you for the workshop on 11/01/2024. According to our call, we agreed:

• The Dashboard mockups are validated (Figma link)
• Notifications: marking them as "seen" should require user action, e.g. marking the checkboxes or selecting all of them and performing mass action "Mark as seen"
• The template functionality is already implemented, but some screens are missing for new actions. The first drafts will be ready next week by Friday 19/01 approx.

The following inputs are expected from Pierre (CTO) during the next two weeks:

• SSO description and API documentation (likely Azure AD will be used).
• API documentation for the integration with the CRM that is currently used.
• User data storage architecture description.

As we agreed with Emma (CMO):

• We are waiting for some current marketing leaflets examples to know what functionalities are expected for templates.
• Leaflets can be of two kinds:
  • General, common for all stores in all locations.
  • Specific for one location (a city, town, or district).

Best regards,

Noveogroup Analyst

4. Minutes of Meeting in messengers 

Minutes of Meeting in Messengers is a popular way of communication on long-term projects where the team has built a trusting relationship with the customer. Usually, there are a lot of details discussed at meetings that are important not to forget, so the main purpose of the Minutes of Meeting is to keep all the details that were discussed at the workshop.

Tips:

• The Minutes of Meeting should only be distributed in team channels, as opposed to direct messages,  that your PM and other team members have access to. This helps maintain transparency in communications.
• If the discussion started in direct messages, move the discussion to a public channel. This applies not only to the Minutes of Meeting but also to any project-related discussion.
• It is helpful to tag meeting participants in the Minutes of Meeting so that they are aware of any agreements.

12/11/2023 Workshop

@Pierre, @Antoine, and @Catherine, please have a look at the notes after our call. We've discussed the following:

1. We are planning to develop the desktop web application for the MVP. However, in future versions, the Linux-based desktop app is expected (TBD at the beginning of 2024) 
2. The following email notifications are expected in the scope of the MVP: 
   1. Reminders: on the day of the event in the morning.
   2. Weekly reports: Monday morning for the previous week.
   3. Monthly reports: at the beginning of a new month for the previous month, when the report is ready according to the task schedule.
   4. Performing issues: after 1 hour if it's not yet resolved.
   5. The event is fully booked: registration is no longer available.
   6. Emails for each registration are not needed.
3. The color scheme currently in use is outdated. We are awaiting the new version of the UI kit from @Antoine  and will then update our mockups.
4. The "Back" button shall be removed on all pages with settings. The navigation will be reconsidered.
5. Next week we'll have a workshop with your CTO @Pierre to discuss the architecture design. We'd like to invite our backend developer and DevOps to this workshop as well. 
6. You won't be available next Wednesday 18/01/2024, so please @Catherine let us know when you're available for the next call.

Voila, your arrangements are properly recorded and sent to all participants! You're on a horse! :)