Taking Notes during Phone Calls
Taking Notes during Phone Calls
(OP)
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.
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





RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
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
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
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
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
"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.
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
HVAC68
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
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
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
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
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
Al CET,EIT
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
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.
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
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...
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
LittleH
Eng-Tips guidelines: FAQ731-376
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
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)
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
Bandraoi: ...and I never delete my e-mails...
Would you delete these e-mails and notes if you departed the company?
Steven Fahey, CET
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
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.
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
They should not be deleted when you leave & probably not even copied & removed from the premises.
Making the best use of this Forum. FAQ559-716
How to get answers to your SW questions. FAQ559-1091
Helpful SW websites every user should be aware of.&nbs
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
Take notes during @$$-chewings.
Taking notes when getting chewed out does a couple things:
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RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
CorBlimeyLimey, that is not universally true, only if there is an agreement in place beforehand. I am a business owner and I know the difference between employment and ownership.
If your company is dealing with sensitive information, you should have an policy in place to properly respect the information. However, there is also a place for proper respect of the individual.
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
Keep it! Record it! Document it! If you do not you might not like your new room mate.
By the way I am in a happy place now. But the same rules apply.
Al CET, EIT
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
A past employer had a habit of sending me Emails in block capitals reminding me of "my responsibilities to the company".
I spoke to him explaining that block capitals was widely considered to be shouting and that reminding me of my responsibilities was threatening, I then went on to say that if that was how he felt then he should tell me to my face. His response was that I was "overeacting".
I then informed him that a copy of all such emails, with my personal comments annotated on the bottom were copied and stored at home. Since that conversation I never had to copy another Email.
Karl.
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
That's when it pays to act ethically. It's usually safe to forget or be recorded when one is acting ethically.
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
Anyways, I have it categorized into projects, so that when my boss says, "have you asked so-and-so for the revised drawing?" I can look on the phone log for that project and say, "why, yes of course. He will email it to me by next Tuesday." It's useful, AND it makes me look like I'm on-the-ball!
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
I take this notebook with me when ever I go somewhere. I can't count the number of times that it has come in handy.
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
Remember when there is a smoking hole. It's not just what you say (if that even matters)it's what you can document.
Sounds paranoid. But as a PE and as a professional you are responsible for your actions, both now and in the future. How good is your memory? Where were you august 24 1996?
RE: Taking Notes during Phone Calls
Write down everything simply in chronological order.
If I am on a big full time project I start new notebooks specifically for that project, if on a number of smaller ones then it all goes into one chronologically.
Doesn’t matter what method you use to record, just as long as it is dons and done in such a manner that logs the time and doesn’t allow for pages to go missing or to be added later.
24 August 1996 I was on a project at the paper mill in Fort Frances Ontario. We were installing the main conveyor along the east side of the wood room. The pipe fitters were installing the air conditioner drains from the control room.
I had 10 billable hours that day as it was the Saturday of a 10 on shift. There were a total of 24 contractor personnel on site (I also have trade breakdowns). I made 15 phone calls and received 10 incoming calls. Want to know who called, when and what we talked about?
My notes for that day cover 6 pages in my lab book.
Sorry, did not note what I had for lunch. (Most likely the special at the Fort Hotel)
Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng
Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
www.kitsonengineering.com