Reference: 12 of 12
Adapting a Template
Adapting a template is changing it to fit your own material, reader or tools while its steps and checks keep working. Change the input first, then the reader, then add the check your work needs.
A template
Start from a template that is close to what you need, and run it as it is first.
In a Real Template
Each template lists the changes it expects people to make. Two from the meeting notes template show the care adapting takes.
Change NOT STATED and FLAGGED to the words your team uses, but change them in every step and in the checks too.If you only need actions, delete the first step and the lines in the later steps that refer to its decisions.What to notice: Both changes reach past the one line you edit: the word is used in three places, and the later steps refer to the step you delete. Run the template once as it is before changing it, then again after each change.
From the template Turn meeting notes into decisions and actions.
Easy to Mix Up
- Starting from scratchAdapting keeps the steps and checks that already work. A new workflow starts empty and has to earn them.
- Rewording a promptAdapting also means swapping the input, changing the reader and adding a check, not only changing words.
- Changing the shapeMoving from step by step to another shape changes how the steps fit together. Adapting usually keeps the shape.