Why I Stopped Taking Meeting Notes

I used to be that person in meetings—you know the one. Head down, typing furiously, occasionally grunting "uh-huh" while missing the entire conversation. I thought I was being productive. I was actually being useless.

The Multitasking Myth

Here's what nobody tells you about taking notes during meetings: you can't actually do both well. When you're typing "Sarah suggested we move to microservices," Sarah has already moved on to talking about database migrations, and now you're behind.

So you type faster. You develop abbreviations. You stop forming complete sentences. And at the end of the meeting, you have 3 pages of gibberish that you can barely decipher, let alone anyone else on your team.

The Moment I Quit

It happened during a sprint retrospective. I was documenting every comment when our CTO stopped mid-sentence and said, "Alex, what do you think about this?"

I had no idea what "this" was. I'd been so busy typing about the previous topic that I'd completely missed the last two minutes of discussion. I mumbled something vague and went back to typing, mortified.

That night, I made a decision: no more notes. At all. Just... participate.

What Actually Happened

The first week was terrifying. Without notes, I felt naked. Vulnerable. Like I was going to forget everything important.

But something weird happened:

• I remembered more: When you're actually listening instead of transcribing, your brain processes information differently. I retained way more.
• I contributed better: Turns out, being present in a conversation makes you better at conversations. Who knew?
• Meetings were shorter: When I wasn't slowing things down asking people to repeat themselves, we moved faster.

But What About Important Decisions?

This was my biggest fear. And yes, initially, some things slipped through the cracks. That's when I found TellMeMo.

"I don't take notes anymore. The AI does. And it does it better than I ever did."

— Me, converted

Now I just show up to meetings, actually participate, and let the AI handle the documentation. The summaries are better than my notes ever were, and I never miss a key decision because I was too busy typing to hear it.

The Results

Six months later, here's what changed:

1. My meeting contributions improved: Teammates started asking for my input more because I was actually engaged.
2. Decisions stuck: I internalized discussions instead of externalizing them to a doc.
3. My stress dropped: No more panic about missing something while typing something else.
4. My productivity doubled: I got back 5-7 hours per week previously spent on note review and cleanup.

How to Do This

You don't have to go cold turkey like I did. Here's a better approach:

1. Week 1: Take minimal notes—just key decisions and action items
2. Week 2: Only note action items
3. Week 3: Stop taking notes entirely
4. Week 4: Use an AI tool to capture what you need

The Uncomfortable Truth

Most of us take notes not because we need them, but because it makes us feel productive. It's security theater for our own anxiety.

But real productivity isn't about capturing information—it's about processing it, understanding it, and acting on it. You can't do any of that while you're typing.