Hi there,
Ready… set… action!
Wait, what was I supposed to do again?
It’s a fact: If I don’t write down my action items from a project call, they’ll disappear forever. 🪄
Today, we’re all about de-risking the risky business of thinking we’ll remember everything forever. And then promptly forgetting it an hour later.
⚡ Supercharge of the Week
Remote Octopus recommends clearly documenting action items for your team, especially during complex cross-functional conversations.
Why?
In a fast-paced environment, documentation of action items is especially important to ensure no work falls through the cracks.
Clear documentation of action items is also an actionable form of risk management. If you’re currently remembering your action items without writing them down after a call… that can be risky. The chances of you remembering every action item the day after your call? Well, for me anyway, that’s pretty low. So much unnecessary risk!
🚀 Today’s newsletter builds on last week when we explored how to best identify action items.
All it takes is a quick choice of which documentation process will work best for your team and identifying who will be the owner of the action items documentation.
The owner will be the person who actually writes down the action item, the person responsible, and date due – whether they’re putting that into a tool or an agenda. The owner of this process is usually the project owner or the TPM/project manager for the team.
Here are three of my favorite (and most frequently used!) processes for documenting action items.
⚡ Action Items into a Project Management Tool
This one is probably the most expected… yet I’m always surprised how many teams are still functioning without one! There are so many choices from Jira to Asana to Monday… Many of them have a simple, free version that can work if you have a smaller team.
If you’re leveraging a project management tool, it can be helpful to screen share the tool on the next team call as a strategy to check in on outstanding action items.
Keep in mind: Learning a new tool can be tough! And time-consuming. If your team isn’t already familiar with a task management tool, definitely consider leveraging change management strategies – or try out one of the next two processes instead.
⚡ Action Items into an Agenda
Is your team using an agenda for project calls? If yes, then this might be the perfect strategy for documenting action items. (If not, check out an easy agenda template here!)
Ensure your agenda has a section for action items. If you’re in Google Docs, leverage the checklist feature. If you’re feeling fancy, drop in a few emojis to the agenda as visual cues for where your colleagues can find the action items.
During each call:
Document action items throughout the call.
Always wrap up with a review of the action items & use this time to clarify any missing information such as who is responsible or the target due date.
Remember! At the top of the next project call, always check in on the past conversation’s outstanding action items. An agenda won’t send you timed reminders like a project management tool so it’s your responsibility to keep track of outstanding action items for the team.
EXAMPLE IN ACTION
⚡ Action Items into Slack
No agendas? No project management tool? Then this is the strategy for you! Or maybe you just really love Slack (and that’s great too).
First, ensure your project has a dedicated & clearly-labeled Slack channel. This is the channel you’ll use to document action items from calls together.
During each call:
Document action items throughout the call – you might type them directly into a draft Slack message or another doc.
Always wrap up with a review of the action items & use this time to clarify any missing information such as who is responsible or the target due date.
Then send the Slack message to your project channel clearly documenting action items.
Bonus points: Leverage emojis & tagging colleagues in Slack for each action item. Check out our deep dive into Slack action items here.
Remember! At the top of the next project call, always check in on the past conversation’s outstanding action items in Slack. It’s your responsibility to keep track of outstanding action items for the team.
As action items are completed in Slack, you might consider:
Editing the message to
cross outthe completed action items.Replying to the original Slack that all of the action items are confirmed complete.
EXAMPLE IN ACTION
✅ Action Items from Today’s Call:
@Thomas: Follow up on team Slack with leadership decision before Tuesday’s call
@Zuri: Update necessary project timelines & documentation to reflect any shifts by EOW
Whichever strategy you use… Your team will thank you!
🐙 Remote Octopus Resources
Ready to level up operational excellence for your team? Check out our resources:
