# Turn meeting notes into decisions and actions: prompt chain Turn rough meeting notes into a clean list of what was decided and who will do what by when, with each item tied to the line in the notes it came from. **Made for:** Anyone who takes or receives meeting notes, such as team leads, coordinators and assistants. ## Before you start Have these ready: - **Meeting notes** (required): Paste the notes or transcript as they are. Messy is fine. - **Meeting name and date** (optional): For the heading of the record, for example "Weekly ops call, 14 Oct". **How to use this chain** 1. Open a new chat in any AI assistant. 2. Copy the Step 1 prompt, replace every [PASTE HERE: ...] slot with your material, and send it. 3. Keep each answer: later steps ask you to paste it in. Run each step in the same chat or a new one; a new chat keeps steps from blurring together. 4. After a step that has a check, run the check before you move on. ## Step 1: Pull out decisions Find every decision in the notes, and copy the line each one comes from. Copy this prompt: ````text You are an experienced meeting secretary who writes careful, neutral records. Your task is to read the meeting notes below and find every decision: something the group agreed, chose, approved, changed or stopped. Meeting: [PASTE HERE: Meeting name and date] Meeting notes: [PASTE HERE: Meeting notes] Rules: - Use only what is in the notes. Do not add decisions that are not written there. - Copy the source line word for word from the notes into the Source line column. Copy a short part if the line is long, but do not change any words. - Do not merge two decisions into one row. Do not include actions or open questions. Do not give advice or comments. Return exactly one markdown table and nothing else: | # | Decision | Source line | If there are no decisions, keep the table and add one row that says "None found". ```` **You get back:** A table of decisions, each row with the line it came from. **Check after Step 1: Every item quotes its note** Check by eye: Every quote in the Source line column appears word for word in the meeting notes. If it does not pass: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. ## Step 2: List the actions Find every action, with its owner and date, and flag any that are missing one. Copy this prompt: ````text You are a project coordinator who makes sure no action is left without an owner or a date. Your task is to read the meeting notes below and list every action: something a person or team will do after the meeting. Decisions are already listed, so do not repeat them. Meeting notes: [PASTE HERE: Meeting notes] Decisions already listed: [PASTE HERE: the answer from Step 1 (Pull out decisions)] Rules: - Use only what is in the notes. Do not add actions, owners or dates that are not written there. - If an action has no named owner, write NOT STATED in the Owner column. If it has no date, write NOT STATED in the Due date column. - If a date is vague (for example "next week" or "sometime before the 20th"), keep the words from the notes and write FLAGGED: vague date. - In the Follow up column write OK for a complete action. For an action with a gap write FLAGGED and say in a few words what is missing (for example "FLAGGED: no owner"). - Copy the source line word for word from the notes into the Source line column. Do not change any words. - Do not merge two actions into one row. Return exactly one markdown table and nothing else: | # | Action | Owner | Due date | Source line | Follow up | If there are no actions, keep the table and add one row that says "None found". ```` **You get back:** A table of actions, each with an owner, a due date, the line it came from and an OK or FLAGGED mark. **Check after Step 2: Every action has an owner and a date, or is flagged** Check by eye: Every row of the table has something written in "Owner", "Due date" and "Follow up" (a blank or a dash does not count). If it does not pass: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. ## Step 3: Note open questions List the questions the meeting left open, and who should answer each. Copy this prompt: ````text You are an experienced meeting secretary who makes sure nothing is lost between meetings. Your task is to read the meeting notes below and list every open question: something asked or doubted that the meeting did not settle. Decisions and actions are already listed, so do not repeat them. Meeting notes: [PASTE HERE: Meeting notes] Decisions already listed: [PASTE HERE: the answer from Step 1 (Pull out decisions)] Actions already listed: [PASTE HERE: the answer from Step 2 (List the actions)] Rules: - Use only what is in the notes. Do not invent questions. - In the Who answers column write the person the notes name. If the notes name no one, write NOT STATED. - Copy the source line word for word from the notes into the Source line column. Do not change any words. - Do not answer the questions. Return exactly one markdown table and nothing else: | # | Open question | Who answers | Source line | If there are no open questions, keep the table and add one row that says "None found". ```` **You get back:** A table of open questions, each with who should answer it and the line it came from. **Check after Step 3: Every open question says who answers** Check by eye: Every row of the table has something written in "Who answers" (a blank or a dash does not count). If it does not pass: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. ## Final checks Run these on the finished result. **Final check 1: Every action quotes its note** Check by eye: Every quote in the Source line column appears word for word in the meeting notes. If it does not pass: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. **Final check 2: Nothing was added that is not in the notes** Open a new chat (so the check is not swayed by the work) and paste this check prompt: ````text You are a careful reviewer. You do not fix or rewrite the work; you only decide whether it passes one check. The check: Nothing was added that is not in the notes Compare the three lists below with the original meeting notes. Does every decision, action, owner, date and question come from the notes, with nothing added or changed? Decisions: [PASTE HERE: the answer from Step 1 (Pull out decisions)] Actions: [PASTE HERE: the answer from Step 2 (List the actions)] Open questions: [PASTE HERE: the answer from Step 3 (Note open questions)] Original meeting notes: [PASTE HERE: Meeting notes] The work to check (the answer from Step 3 (Note open questions)): [PASTE HERE: the answer from Step 3 (Note open questions)] Reply with exactly PASS or FAIL on the first line. On the second line, say in one sentence why. If it fails, name the exact item or line that fails. Do not add anything else. ```` If it does not pass: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. ## What you end up with - A table of decisions and a table of actions, each item tied to its source line. - A short list of actions that still need an owner or a date. - A table of open questions, each with who should answer it. ## Changing this chain - If your team tracks actions in a tool, change the actions step to return one line per action in the shape your tool imports (for example a spreadsheet row). - If your notes come from an automatic transcript, add a first step that removes filler words and speaker labels before pulling out items. - If you only need actions, delete the first step and the lines in the later steps that refer to its decisions. - Change NOT STATED and FLAGGED to the words your team uses, but change them in every step and in the checks too. --- From Logic Lab (logiclabhq.com). Free to use and adapt, with credit.