How to write effective meeting minutes?

• Note taking application: Many people prefer old-school way of taking notes using notepad/pen while others prefer a reliable note-taking application.
• Taking notes: While capturing meeting notes, it will be useful to categorize the content in three buckets - Notes, Key Decisions and Action Items.
• Clarifications and questions: It is always a good idea to pause the discussion with any clarifying questions. If given an opportunity, summarize the meeting (highlighting key decisions, action items & next steps) to the group to get early feedback before sending out the official meeting minutes.

Once the meeting is over, collate and share meeting notes at the earliest to ensure relevance of the content. Post meeting, review meeting notes while the content is still fresh to ensure the completeness of the notes. 

Meeting minutes are designed to drive projects forward by documenting key decisions and drive accountability among stakeholders. Hence, it is essential to outline action items and next steps clearly.