I’m curious what others are using for general not taking. i.e taking notes on phone/zoom calls, writing down small ‘today’ tasks, writing down small stuff like say a number temporarily, stuff like that.
I’ve used a Hilroy notebook for this stuff since 1987, and I’m still using that tech. I keep one on my desk with a pen,and make notes throughout the day. Then I’ll cross it out once it’s done.
But I feel like there should be better tech than this these days for these short timeframe notes.
Low tech here…I use a notepad and a pen.
handwrite here too.
OK so either there’s nothing new, or we’re all a bunch of fossils around here.
Nothing I take notes on is important enough to document, at least not forever.
Most of my notes are jotting down ideas from my brain.
I use one note and have different categories for the different type of meetings that I attend. Tasks and follow ups get entered on my to-do list and get crossed off when I am done. This has the added benefit of me being able to remember what I worked on over the year when it comes time for my year end review
I have a couple of small, 9"×12" whiteboards in my office where I tend to make short temporary notes – essentially short-term to-dos or action items that I pick up in meetings, or a number that I need to remember that I’ve been given verbally (e.g. what FX rate I’m supposed to be using for the current report).
For longer-form notes, I’d prefer to handwrite notes, but my handwriting is borderline illegible, and I don’t want to sacrifice the desk space in my cluttered office with a notebook of comfortable size. Therefore, I either take notes as a new Outlook email which I send to myself, or I use OneNote – typically Outlook on the work PC, and OneNote on the personal PC.
a couple of people I know have an ipad/tablet that they write with a stylus. it captures them (must have to train it on your own proprietary scribble). Then it converts it to a standard font maybe and they can be saved electronically.
i write in meetings in a notebook. write follow up stuff on a separate to do list until it is done. when notebooks fill…i throw them in a drawer. i’ve had like 2 instances in 10 years where I was looking for info that was more than one book prior to the currently in use book. then when I have a few…i toss them.
basically i write stuff down to help me recall it and a couple of to-do items. helps me not get too distracted
Notes from meetings in word documents. Easier to write down and search later.
Temporary text in notepad.
Task list usually through email.
I haven’t written down anything physically for work since before the pandemic.
My team uses OneNote to document anything that should be available for the whole team. I use Notepad ++ to write down short term notes to myself, and my Inbox is my to do list.
Reminds me of an episode of The Office when Michael Scott was asked to give a college lecture. He said, “ Real business is done on paper. Write that down.” Then they showed all the students typing this on their laptop.
Most of the big videoconference software have spots where you can take notes on line. You can also record them (with the appropriate permission from your audience, of course)
But most of my note-taking happens in a spiral notebook. I have one that is client-specific. Each client gets 3 pages where I can write notes. The other is just for day-to-day stuff: jotting down who I should call, voicemail notes, quick calcuations.
If I need to keep notes in the “file” for posterity, I usually type them up in Word. Though I used to work for a company that used Evernote for collaboration purposes.
I use onenote as others have mentioned. The tablet things that convert handwriting to electronic format look really interesting though. I have not used, and my horrible handwriting would be a fantastic test for how good it actually is.
Being a true actudonkey, I keep everything in an excel file.
Take a picture of handwritten notes and have Copilot convert it. No purchase necessary.
Haven’t tried yet, but still have doubts my handwriting is interpretable. xD
Green sheets and a legal pad FTW
I found out mine is about 70% legible by doing this.