Taking Notes during Phone Calls 6

[Sparweb]

When things go wrong, it often helps to dig up records of communications. Letters and e-mails can be dredged up, but phone calls disappear into the ether once you hang up.

Over the past few years, I have been developing a habit of making notes during phone calls to make up for an imperfect memory on my part. Whether negotiating regulatory requirements with gov't officials, or discussing what the customer needs, sorting out who said what after months have gone by can be very difficult without something to jog your memory.

I'm still not doing it all the time, and often regret it later.

Have a pad of paper handy beside the phone at all times, and capture the main topics as you chat with your colleague, as unobtrusively as possible. If anything even remotely important was discussed, re-write the notes in greater detail on a piece of paper. The act of re-writing the details you just discussed will also help fix it in your memory.

Put the piece of paper somewhere that you can find later. My work goes from project to project, so the file of paperwork for that project is the ideal place.




Steven Fahey, CET

 

[Heckler]

I have a project notebook that I use at meetings and taking notes while on the phone. If I'm talking with a customer about a design or problem of some sort I always follow up with an e-mail to summarize our phone conversation. Now I have two data points.

 

[HgTX]

I have a phone log template for my word processor. Since I type faster than I write, if the phone conversation starts to get interesting I fire up the keyboard. That's also handy because as soon as I get off the phone, I have something I can send to a boss or co-worker to explain what I learned on the phone.

I should do it all the time but I don't. For a while, just for bookkeeping purposes, I was logging what calls I made, but even that fell by the wayside.

Hg

Eng-Tips guidelines: faq731-376

 

[jmw]

If this is for your own benefit "my memory is lousy" etc. then this is solid advice.
However, if as a result of this conversation you commit yourself or your company to some line of action that could come back and bite you, this is not enough.
Your own telephone notes might be considered "self-serving" and cannot be considered binding on anyone else.
The best advice is get it in writing i.e. get the other guy to write and confirm that he accepts what you are going to do.
If necessary say "OK, I'll write up a summary and once you've okayed it we can get started."

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[EngJW]

Good point jmw.
"that's not what I said, that's what you think I said"

I would have to write things down afterward. I can't talk and write at the same time. But then again, I can't seem to think and talk at the same time so I try to use email whenever possible.

 

[ivymike]

I got my boss to spring for a headset - so I can use both hands to type (notepad.exe) while I'm on the phone. I type more during voicemails than I do during live phone calls, but it works either way. When I'm done, if something important was covered, sometimes I'll paste into an email and send it back. More often, I paste a sentence or two into a reminder on my calendar and delete the messages.

 

[HVAC68]

Well, I do make notes when the call is important and has some significance. It becomes too much to write everything down on every phone call. Once the call is over, and the conversation is still fresh in the memory and with the help of the notes where I would have written the key points, I quickly send an e-mail confirming the telecon and asking the other person to confirm the same, just in case something is missed out or misunderstood.

HVAC68

 

[Sparweb]

Misunderstandings...

Yesterday I was in a government official's office discussing a project. When he sprung new info on me, and presented me with his concerns, I was deliberately non-committal, to buy myself time to think about it.
When I got back to the office, he had already sent an e-mail to my boss, saying that I had agreed to a course of action.

I think I need to carry a tape-recorder with me!

I wouldn't treat notes from a phone call as a contract or an affadavit. It is only a memory aid. Our projects are sometimes unearthed for audits, revisions, and so forth, and it is often useful to trace back the path of reasoning that led to the final result.



Steven Fahey, CET

 

[MikeHalloran]

I take notes on _everything_, especially internal meetings.

I too use Notepad, because it doesn't get in the way. I like the timestamp feature; F5.

Every project, hundreds a year, gets a Notepad file containing short declarative sentences recording who said what to whom, what was agreed on, what sort of died on the table, plus pasted-in copies of email messages, results of database inquiries, drawing numbers, whatever.

"If you didn't write it down, it didn't happen." <--- It took a long time for me to understand and accept that.

Every day, I use ZtreeWin and a Zip disk to snag a copy of whatever changed on that day and transfer it to a duplicate directory tree at home.




Mike Halloran
NOT speaking for
DeAngelo Marine Exhaust Inc.
Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA

 

[jmw]

Could use ACT which is a relational database?

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[planedr]

I take 2 types of phone records. Formal and informal. Formal are for the regulatory or contract types, time, date, specific items noted, and if necesary follow up with an e-mail and it all gets put into project file. Informal I keep a note book with day and time. If you have a note with day and time and the person you are dealing with doesn't, his credibility will not stand up, yours will. It won't solve all your problems but it helps. I have a binder with 5 years worth of notes and e-mail on my shelf, those are the informal ones not in project files. Its good CYA.

Al CET,EIT

 

[typhonic]

At my first job at an engineering company I was talking on the phone one day with the client. He asked me to pass a message to the Electrical Engineer, a man with plenty of experience. When I delivered the message, the EE said I was mistaken because the information contradicted the established design at our client's site. I dropped the point because I did not understand the subject and I had delivered the message.

A few days later, during a project review meeting, the subject came up again. I stated what I had heard, and the Project Manager asked me, directly, if I was sure about what I said. So I turned back in my project notebook and found the phone conversation notes, looked at them, then answered that, Yes, I was sure. The message was delivered again, and this time everyone agreed.

After the meeting, the EE stopped me in the hall and said, (paraphrasing) "When you told me what the client said, you didn't tell me that you wrote it down."

I never completely understood that lesson, but I still write things down.

 

[AusSteelMan]

I too use Notepad, because it doesn't get in the way. I like the timestamp feature; F5.

Mike, I gave you a star 'cause I know I'll use that one in future.

Thanks again
ASM
I am logged in. Therefore I am...

 

[BigH]

HgTX - what app do you use?

 

[HgTX]

BigH--I use Word, but just about any word processor can use templates or forms. The form has blanks for the person's name, number, company; date, time; checkboxes for who called who(m); and then a big area for notes and another area at the bottom for followup information.

LittleH


Eng-Tips guidelines: faq731-376

 

[bandraoi]

I always take notes, by the time I hang up I usually can't even remember who I'm talking to.

If there is anything to be done after the conversation than I e-mail the person to confirm the details.

I try to train everyone I'm working with - from bosses, to clients, to contacts EVERYONE to do 90% of their communication by e-mail and I never delete my e-mails.

That meanss there's nearly always a record and it's easily found.

(this may also be due to the fact that I don't like the phone)

 

[EngJW]

Bandraoi- agree, every time I put down the phone I think of something I should have asked or said differently. With email you can take 5 or 10 minutes to compose it and review it.

 

[Sparweb]

A previous comment got me thinking...

Bandraoi: ...and I never delete my e-mails...

Would you delete these e-mails and notes if you departed the company?


Steven Fahey, CET

 

[EngJW]

But email never gets deleted. Someone else will make copies or forward them all over the place. Always best to be polite and not get into an email war.

 

[bandraoi]

I've taken a cd copy of my e-mails with me when i've moved offices/left the company.
This also means that when I'm looking at writing a cv/going to an interview/going for chartership I can look over exactly what it was I was doing on a day to day basis.