Dealing with notes

I remember investigating a sexual harassment complaint where the complainant listed personal diary entries as part of her supporting evidence. I said that I would need to see these entries if I was to consider them with any other evidence. At the end of our initial interview, I asked the her to bring in the diary. After a couple of days and no diary I called and reminded her and waited a couple more days. I made a follow-up call and told her that, if she wanted the diary entries to be considered, she had to have them to me that day. She showed up later in the day with scraps of ruled paper she had “torn out of her diary.” They were the kind of pages that you would find in any cheap ruled notebook. Needless to say, the information she had “documented” did not carry much weight in support her complaint.

I take my notes in a basic notebook that can be (and has been) shown when I need to support conversations formally at hearings, investigations, etc. If I want the information to be accesssible digitally, I transcribe my notes to my computer, but I don’t toss the notebook until the required record retention time has passed.

Of course, not all professions need that attention to record retention. Dwayne gives us a synopsis of his note-taking style over at Genuine Curiosity. He likes a tear-away notebook that allows him to process his notes through his systems, as required.

How about you? How do you deal with note taking?

April 19, 2005 Update: Michael Hyatt posts on the Lost Art of Note-Taking. Some great tips for the process itself.

Categories: Personal-Productivity