Let's talk post-meeting synthesis

AshleyB

How do you synthesize themes post-meeting to help stay on track?

[Deleted User]

Don't know what others feel about this. But, I think I always do the same basic recipe.

1. Get everything out of everyone's head and into simple short single statement notes (works if it's just me, or an entire team).
2. Work to quickly group and cluster those notes to find common themes and patterns (You could use this template, and just think about it like a meeting retrospective).
3. If you are tighter on time, I would just take the notes and do a quick Bull's-Eye Diagram to establish priority, before assigning responsibilities to tasks (this is a great template for that).

There are dozens of ways to do this, but I think Affinity Clustering, or Affinity Diagramming, depending on which turtleneck shirt, and dark-rimmed glasses in-door summer camp you attended. I'm from Colorado, and us in-door nerds from the West say Affinity Cluster.

Fancy words aside, this is really the same as doing laundry. You just throw everything into a pile, wash it a bit, and then group everything that's related before you put it away.