This is related to what I previously wrote about regarding my [[Morning Routine]] I use [Obsidian](http://obsidian.md) for my notes but I imagine this would all work just as well with other note taking apps like EverNote, Bear, Craft and so on. I'll talk about [OmniFocus](https://www.omnigroup.com/omnifocus/) but I think that's synonymous with however you run [GTD](https://gettingthingsdone.com/). I have notes mostly for people but also for meetings that I typically go to throughout the day. Sometimes this mapping doesn't work out and I'll have notes that are more associated with initiatives, teams, areas of concern and so on. Note that I _don't have individual notes for each instance of a meeting_. I want to see the history of my notes and navigate them in the same file. Typically as I'm having my morning coffee I'll get ready for each meeting I have that day. This is part of my [[Morning Routine]]. I'll create a day specific note that acts as my agenda for the day. Each item in the agenda links to notes that will capture the meetings I want to have that day. ![[annotated_obsidian_note.png]] ## 3 Sections My notes are almost always in 3 sections with horizontal rules in between them. They're ordered to keep the top of the document as where all the action is. ## Top Section: Frequently Used Links or Information The top section has notes or links to anything you normally need to get context for this person or meeting. If you're coaching someone and you know you want to get through 5 concepts at some point with them maybe it's just a bullet list on top. If the meeting typically drives off of a diagram or spreadsheet you have links to those artifacts. There is a power in this that I don't want to escape you. When you know you can reliably put this longer term agenda somewhere it gives you the latitude to _pick your moments_. You don't just blurt out more than what is helpful at any given time. This helps you have a deliver your agenda with the confidence that you're not going to lose track of the longer term goals and items you want to cover. To state it another way, when a topic is _top of mind_ for you isn't always the right time for you to bring it up to others. People might not be ready to consume the information and you can confidently wait for another time to share. If there are more than 5 lines in this top section of the note I find it distracting when I have to scroll down to get to the next section. Here are some possible things for this top _current context_ section. - Kanban boards - If I'm managing software engineers I'll link to a filtered version of the Kanban board that shows specifically what they're working on - Architecture diagrams, org-charts - Shared documents, spreadsheets - Zoom link for where this meeting usually is - OmniFocus that links to all the tagged items for this meeting or person or a link to the project that represents this note - Link to Slack channel that this group is typically in For example, throughout the week I have conversations and if there's something I learn that I want to bring up in my staff meeting I quickly add an action in OmniFocus and tag it with _status meeting_. Then, as I prepare for the status meeting in the morning I have the note open for my status meeting, at the top of that note is an OmniFocus link to that _status meeting_ tag and all those formerly ephemeral thoughts are retrieved. From there I copy those action items to the notes under a header for todays date. I'll likely organize them into some cohesive agenda that flows better than the randomly ordered collection of action items. ## Middle Section: Meeting Notes In the middle is _reverse chronological_ sections that represent actual meetings or interactions with this person or group of people. By way of example it's worth thinking about the long-term span of daily notes for a person. Initially you might start the note to interview someone, you'd capture how that went. Then you might have meetings with that person over the course of the years. If you start the morning looking at your calendar you pull up your note for that person. Then at the top above the previous meeting you create a new section with the current date. This is an opportunity to think about what you'd like to cover in the meeting. You can click on your OmniFocus link that goes directly to the tag for that person that captures every idea or task you want to think about while talking to that person. Or you could click on a shared document that you both collaborate on for their coaching. While the meeting is happening you take notes to capture what was said. You refer to the topics you'd like to cover and check those off as you can. The *following* morning when you review _yesterdays_ notes, you should summarize the main points and pull out action items from yesterdays notes. Those action items should make their way into OmniFocus. If you outlast the person you might copy their farewell email into your notes. > [!info]- Quickly adding a section for current date in Obsidian > - Get the [Templater](https://silentvoid13.github.io/Templater/introduction.html) plugin > - Create and specify your Template folder location, mine is `9000 Admin/9200 Templates` > - Create a template file that looks something like this > ``` > ### [[<% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD") %> ]] > - notes > ``` > - Go to Settings > Templater > Template Hotkeys > - Add a reference to the template above and map it to ⌘D > Then when you want to add a new section for the day just hit ⌘D, it'll pre-populate the current date and you can just start typing ### Setting the agenda and capturing notes I have a notes section that has the things that I want to cover in the meeting. These are the questions I want to ask or what I want to get out of the meeting. I'll add the answers or details in bullets while the meeting is happening. If there are action items for me I'll create a task like `-[ ] do this`. I use the [task progress bar](https://github.com/Quorafind/Obsidian-Task-Progress-Bar) plugin to give me some feedback on how well I'm doing for getting what I want out of the meeting, it's some nice feedback. Maybe it's from my days of being a software engineer I like to see things turn green. The raw notes are usually in rough shape with bad formatting, spelling. It's alright, I'll clean it up later. ### Reviewing and refining the notes After the meeting, usually the following morning during my [[Morning Routine]] I'll review the notes and pull out highlights from the meeting and think about how the meeting went some more. It's nice to have space from the meeting, usually with some sleep to put the outcome of the meeting in context. Typically more things come to me if I do this. I'll pull up the task and probably turn it into an action item in my GTD system. I'll also add a sort of _disposition_ that adds an icon and colors the bullet row. So, is this important, is it bad, is it good. I do this using the [list callouts](https://github.com/mgmeyers/obsidian-list-callouts) plugin. After this the raw _notes_ section lives on even after I've refined the notes in my review. I use the [creases](https://github.com/liamcain/obsidian-creases) plugin to default that section to being folded. In my template above I add `%% fold %%` at the end of the notes. When I go back into the note later all those raw notes are hidden by default and I'll just see my summaries. I can still expand the raw notes. If I feel like it sometimes at the end of the year I'll delete all the raw notes and just keep the distilled notes around. If you're familiar with [Building a Second Brain](https://www.amazon.com/Building-Second-Brain-Organize-Potential/dp/B09MGFGV3J/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3M42X7Z1NDHH7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.RmfBQ3r0ebgg0jZg--qGHKRO9Z9u6tbH9VUe_fJCdmBe1YkmXyMKMVfII13vJ3drUrL1LR9c3qyWkbvoDpyx2p1_i4_HYcNQMYxwH9wccjx3OpjmGtSulmxbgUc55pzmllsKH9N0zt4S7xXrTkk-tpf2cQdvN45mgjnJ1iFok5zwYkN49OUxyZWJ1gB38gFnzc7A7S7mOO5T8rT72zD-0duZ4gCmbASGAkq82M3oUwI.UJa-wWoFHDvl0HKZ2-RcMet8Sj3vtRj7Iro1MpCu08U&dib_tag=se&keywords=building+a+second+brain&qid=1728058713&sprefix=building+a+second+brain%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-1), this is the **organize** and **distill** steps in his [CODE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_3yapt5eFw) concept. You're pulling out the main points, giving you another opportunity to review the material. ## Bottom Section: Reference While interacting with people you might find out information that you want to keep around but you don't need to see it often. Maybe the ages of their kids, their contact information and whatnot. The very bottom is a great place to put this. I'm not a heavy user of tags but if I have them I'll put them here as well.