2 #+TITLE: Tracking actions through a series of meetings
3 #+AUTHOR: Carsten Dominik
4 #+EMAIL: carsten.dominik@gmail.com
9 #+OPTIONS: H:4 num:nil toc:t \n:nil @:t ::t |:t ^:t -:t f:t *:t <:t
10 #+OPTIONS: TeX:t LaTeX:t skip:nil d:nil todo:t pri:nil tags:not-in-toc
11 #+INFOJS_OPT: view:nil toc:nil ltoc:t mouse:underline buttons:0 path:http://orgmode.org/org-info.js
19 Org-mode can be used very well for taking notes and for capturing
20 action items during the meeting. This keeps the tasks inside the
21 notes and works really well for planning out projects.
23 When documenting a series of meetings with Org-mode, a different work
24 flow is required. Such a meeting series usually has a set of tasks
25 which are continuously being defined during the meetings, and which
26 need to be tracked from meeting to meeting until completion. So
27 usually the meeting notes contains the current list of tasks. Done
28 tasks disappear from the meeting notes, but still need to be available
29 to the person who is running the series of meeting.
33 To use the work flow described here, you will need the bleeding edge
34 git version of 2011-03-30 or any release that was created after this
35 date. Basic task tracking has been possible with Org, of course, since
36 day one, but exporting without DONE tasks, and a few helpful tools
37 described below are only recent additions.
41 Use a special Org file to document the meetings and to track the
42 actions. In the file, I have the following setup.
45 ,#+TODO: TODO(t) | CANCELED(c) DONE(d)
46 ,#+OPTIONS: tasks:todo
49 Of cause you can define the TODO keywords any way you like. The
50 =#+OPTIONS= line arranges for DONE tasks to be excluded from export,
51 so that when you sent around the list of actions to the participants,
52 these completed tasks will not clutter the list. If you want to keep DONE tasks
53 in the list, either always or occasionally, modify this line to say
56 * How to identify tasks
58 It is useful to identify a task in a unique way, so that you can get
59 back to it easily in the next meeting. The method I am choosing here
60 is to simply number the tasks sequentially, in the sequence they come
61 up. Org has a command to create tasks in this way, to ensure that the
62 sequential number is indeed not already taken. To bind this command to
63 a key, use (for example)
65 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
66 (define-key org-mode-map "\C-cn" 'org-new-numbered-action)
69 The command =org-new-numbered-action= uses the specification in
70 =org-numbered-action-format= to insert a task like this:
73 ,** TODO Action #2: :#2:
76 You can also call the command with a prefix argument in order to
77 insert an inline-task.
79 With the default setup, the action starts with "Action #2", and it is
80 tagged by "#2" to that I can tag other stuff relating to this action
87 For each meeting I start a new top-level section in the document for
88 the notes. In the notes I create new actions and leave them there for
91 I also have a top-level section "ACTIONS" in the file. This section
92 contains all the actions from previous meetings, each action
93 identified by its unique number. I have this section right after the
94 meeting notes sections, so that I can easily export the latest meeting
95 notes together with the action list, simply by narrowing the buffer to
96 the two sequential trees. Here is an example what this might look
100 ,* Notes from <2011-03-16 Wed> :ARCHIVE:
101 ,* Notes from <2011-03-23 Wed> :ARCHIVE:
102 ,* Notes from <2011-03-30 Wed>
103 ,** Present at meeting
108 , - Comments and corrections to last meting notes
109 , - Reports from the sub teams
116 , This is the general list of Actions
117 ,** DONE Action #1 Inventory of equipment :#1:Sarah:
118 ,** DONE Action #2 Definition of main goals :#2:Peter:
119 ,** TODO Action #4 Talk to companies :#4:Sam:
123 ** During the meeting
125 During the meeting, take notes and create new actions. You could add
126 these new actions immediately to the global list, or you could define
127 the actions inside the notes for now. Below I will show how to copy
128 or move the actions to the general list.
130 When I create actions, I also tag them with the names of people who
131 are responsible, so that it later becomes easy to track progress and
136 After the meeting, I organize the notes of the current meeting until
137 they are ready to be sent out. I like to keep the newly defined
138 actions inside the meeting notes, to highlight them as new. Once
139 satisfied with the notes, the new actions need to be integrated with
140 the general list of actions.
142 *** Copying the actions from the meeting notes to the action list
144 I then *copy* the new actions from the last meeting to the ACTIONS
145 section. For this task I use the command =M-x
146 org-collect-todos-in-subtree=. It will copy all the actions in a
147 subtree and put them into the kill ring, so that I can simply paste
148 them with =C-c C-x C-y= into the ACTIONS list. There I organize the
149 actions, change the sequence, create subsections with related actions
150 together etc. Some groups have trivial task lists, then the list just
151 stays simple and flat. For complex consortia I do a lot of
152 analysis, structuring, and ordering.
154 *** Sending out the notes
156 To send the meeting notes and the current list of actions, I narrow
157 the buffer to the node with the meeting notes and the node with the
158 action list, export to the desired format, and mail it out.
159 *** Deactivate tasks in the meeting notes
161 I then deactivate any actions in the meeting notes I just sent around
162 by marking the entire new notes tree with an ARCHIVE tag. Then, TODO
163 lists and other Agenda views will get entries only from the ACTIONS
164 tree, not from the meeting notes. Instead of copying, you could also
165 *move* (refile) the actions to the ACTIONS tree, but I like to keep
166 them deactivated in the notes, so that I have a copy of the notes
167 exactly as sent around, in the file. The idea is that the meeting
168 notes are fixed, and all procedural stuff with the actions will be
169 added and tracked in the ACTIONS tree.
173 Between meetings, I use the ACTIONS tree to generate reminders for
174 people in the list, check DONE tasks off etc. Before the next
175 meeting, I create an agenda view to show me which actions have been
176 closed during the last period. I add this list to the agenda for the
177 next meeting to inform everyone about the stuff that is closed and off
178 the list. I also attach an export of the current ACTIONS tree to the
179 agenda, for reference during the following meeting. The DONE items
180 will not be on that tree anymore. The nice thing is that the members
181 of the meeting always have an uncluttered list of actions, while I as
182 the responsible person still have all the old tasks and the history of
183 the entire project at my finger tips.
186 ** Exporting to LaTeX (by Eric S Fraga)
187 I use LaTeX to create the minutes I circulate to the people that
188 attended a meeting. I have adopted Carsten's workflow but have
189 customised some of the behaviour to better suit the LaTeX export.
190 The customisations address primarily the formatting of the
191 actions and identifying the person responsible for each action.
193 1. I customise the export options to not include TODO keywords or
194 tags and to not number the sections, using:
196 : #+OPTIONS: tags:nil todo:nil num:nil toc:nil
198 The =toc= option is not strictly necessary but minutes of
199 meetings are typically only a few pages so a table of contents
200 is seldom required. However, it *can* be useful for generating
203 2. The numbering of actions is done by explicitly putting
204 the number into the headline. I do this by customising the
205 =org-numbered-action-format= variable to the string
207 : "TODO %d. \\action{?}"
209 3. To support this type of headline, I have defined the =\action= LaTeX macro:
211 : #+latex_header: \newcommand{\action}[1]{\marginpar{\fbox{#1}}}
213 I will typically put the name or initials of the person
214 responsible for taking the action in lieu of the =?= as the
215 argument to the action macro in the headline, such as:
218 , ** TODO 3. \action{ESF} Prepare plan. :#3:
221 The macro, on export, will place the person's name or initials
222 in the right margin of the page with a box around it, making
223 it very easy to identify who has actions and who does not.
225 I do customise the LaTeX export further but those customisations
226 are not specific to minute taking.
230 This setup has worked really well for me, both for meetings that
231 happen locally, and for meetings with international groups who meet
232 via telephone/video conferencing. I hope it will do the same for