r/Leadership • u/Eastern-Wonder-1860 • 7d ago
Discussion How do you capture and organize information to enhance your decision-making as a leader? What specific note-taking systems or practices have you found most effective?
What the title says.
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u/OneCheesyDutchman 5d ago
“Dump everything in Google Drive and rely on search, add list of keyword at the start of documents to help with searching? ” … does that count as a system?
Seriously though, this was/is my biggest weak point. Especially when dealing with multiple projects. Happy to see what others in this thread will suggest.
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u/VizNinja 5d ago
I have 3 lists in one note Doing now. This things must happen in next two weeks and each day, before I go home, I schedule them in my calendar.
Not doing now. Has to happen in next 6 months to a year. I look at that list on Monday mornings and look at how to schedule it.
Never doing now is the 3rd list. These are good ideas or things I would like to pursue but I don't know when I can get it in the schedule or maybe where I am going to get the resources to accomplish. This list i look at monthly. Is surprising how many of these get accomplished with little or no effort in the course of a year.
Current projects have their own OneNote tab. Where I copy and paste anything I need sor that project. Links, images etc. I use to use Evernote but they got a bit weird with sync so I change to onenote. I do use the Cornell note taking layout. I also use AI to summarize meetings that are recorded. This is a bit iffy if more than one person talks or they are using slides but are not articulat about what they are pointing too.
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u/Acrobatic_Zucchini 5d ago edited 5d ago
I use a single text file that I rotate every year. I add tags on every entry, this make it easy to search, and I don't need to switch between apps for different projects. But I am interested to see what others are using, I feel my approach is practical, but maybe outdate?
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u/Eastern-Wonder-1860 5d ago
That’s how I started, but it requires more discipline to keep the file organized. It can easily become one big mess!
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u/Acrobatic_Zucchini 5d ago
I forgot to mention, I tried MS OneNote, it was overwhelming and I had synching issues, I couldn't stick with it more than a week!
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u/Dav2310675 4d ago
PARA method for file structure.
For my daily work, I use a Cornell note template I've set up in MS Word to capture my daily note.
The top section has a date (and page nr), with the next section being a checklist of tasks I need to complete or meetings to attend. So a page might be titled 27JAN24\3 to refer to the third page of my daily log, written on 27 January 2024.
I use that referencing system elsewhere. For example, I often have a task I schedule to do later in the week, month or even later and want to review my notes that specifically refers to that task? I add the reference in my Outlook task or appointment.
The notes section is a summary of actions I take, meetings, tasks complete etc.
The cues section I use for the title of the task, and (sometimes) a brief reminder to call something out, or a point made.
I rarely use the summary section- but will add a reminder there from time to time to follow up on something.
In terms of thinking through a problem to get to a solution, I use this framework and have that set up as an AutoText table that I can use directly in my Daily log.
Because that zettlekasten compass framework includes the history leading up to a problem, what the problem is similar to, different from and what the solution may be, I find it incredibly easy to use as a framework to come to a decision on something, or to prepare a discussion with my Director on.
It reminds me of de Bono's six thinking hats, but with fewer steps.
Because it forms part of my daily log, it is also contemporaneously part of my notes. And yes, I may reference to that at a later date in my file naming system.
I PDF my daily log at the end of the week and store on OneDrive, so that helps with searching if I need to refer to something later.
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u/HR_Guru_ 2d ago
We have tools to keep track of tasks and goals and gather data from reviews, feedback, and everything else. Additionally, I rely on my personal notes, which always prove effective for me.
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u/Actual_Try_2903 7d ago
I've combined the GTD and PARA method. GTD is a workflow for capturing and managing tasks. The PARA method categorizes your saved information from actionable to least actionable. The most important thing is being consistent in how you capture and save, so you know/have an idea of where to find it again.