Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 137 posts

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#31

Post by komali2 »

a-saleh wrote: post #24
bluGill wrote: post #22

80% of the value of notes is the act of writing them down by hand. (I don't have a citation for it, but I tend to believe it). That is notes are primarily a tool to help you not fall asleep, start daydreaming, or whatever distraction keeps you from listening. The fact that you cannot write everything down forces you to think about what you are hearing and find the important part to write down. Now that you have found…

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/488e/c93cf68806bd8ac63fc7d0... ... interesting research that suggests that trying to type-out a transcript with a keyboard might be more effective.

The disadvantage here being notification pop-ups and email being a tab away.

Also whenever someone's on a laptop on a meeting I just assume they're not listening and looking at their emails, doesn't matter what they say before or during. Happens too often. Double if it's a googler lol.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#33

Post by komali2 »

AndrewOMartin wrote: post #16

If you want to take great notes, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that you don't need to worry about doing it right, your aptitude and personal preference will come without any conscious thought. The bad news is that there's no shortcut except for practice, practice, practice. Having said that, here are some of the specifics that work for me. - This notebook: Cambridge Jotter A5 Card Cover Wirebound…

Seconding a5. Also scope jetpens, they have a huge variety of a5 paper that's pretty cheap and the variety can be fun.

I also got a multi color pen that makes note taking far more organized and effective for my ADHD brain, ESPECIALLY when I go back to review.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#34

Post by jczhang »

cphills wrote: post #29

I have been following a hybrid quadrant method for my meeting notes recently and have really enjoyed the process. The quadrant method has gained some popularity as the method that Bill Gates used to use for his meetings. Your paper is split into four areas, notes, questions, to-dos, assignments. This visual categorization has allowed me to cut down on time looking for information from a meeting and has streamlined my…

What's the difference between todo and assignment?

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#35

Post by komali2 »

glun wrote: post #17

I think you ought to consider whether you should take notes at all. Notetaking is great for remembering actions that you have comitted to doing, or if you need to spread information to people who didn't participate in a meeting. Managers need to do a lot of notetaking. However, taking notes seriously hinder your ability to engage with the material and build true understanding as you are listening, which would have he…

I completely disagree. If I think of something I want to add during someone else's time to speak, I have about ten seconds before that point or question will totally evaporate. Having pen and paper let me actually ask questions and contribute during a meeting.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#36

Post by SNACKeR99 »

jczhang wrote: post #34
cphills wrote: post #29

I have been following a hybrid quadrant method for my meeting notes recently and have really enjoyed the process. The quadrant method has gained some popularity as the method that Bill Gates used to use for his meetings. Your paper is split into four areas, notes, questions, to-dos, assignments. This visual categorization has allowed me to cut down on time looking for information from a meeting and has streamlined my…

What's the difference between todo and assignment?

I believe it means the work needs delegation.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#37

Post by zigzaggy »

jczhang wrote: post #34
cphills wrote: post #29

I have been following a hybrid quadrant method for my meeting notes recently and have really enjoyed the process. The quadrant method has gained some popularity as the method that Bill Gates used to use for his meetings. Your paper is split into four areas, notes, questions, to-dos, assignments. This visual categorization has allowed me to cut down on time looking for information from a meeting and has streamlined my…

What's the difference between todo and assignment?

Not OP but I assume one gives assignments and receives to-dos.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#39

Post by cphills »

jczhang wrote: post #34
cphills wrote: post #29

I have been following a hybrid quadrant method for my meeting notes recently and have really enjoyed the process. The quadrant method has gained some popularity as the method that Bill Gates used to use for his meetings. Your paper is split into four areas, notes, questions, to-dos, assignments. This visual categorization has allowed me to cut down on time looking for information from a meeting and has streamlined my…

What's the difference between todo and assignment?

To-do's for other attendees of the meeting. This is for awareness of actions others are taking after the meeting so I have a full understanding of who is doing what.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#40

Post by rgoulter »

cygnion wrote: post #18
peterburkimsher wrote: post #5

When I was in university, my girlfriend at the time taught me about good note-taking. - Use paper. I could annotate printed PPT slides with the whitespace on 4 per page, but sometimes would overflow onto the (blank) reverse side. Computers have too many distracting notifications. - Write down questions with a big (?) and ask them at an appropriate time. Professors care much more about that than you think, in Western…

Using a multi colored pen has helped me mark important information and add my personal context. For example, during meetings or brainstorming I'll mark up information using different colors (red- to do, green- new idea, pencil- plain, sequential notes). I found a good one that has all the colors I need and a mechanical pencil [1]. There is overhead of thinking which color to use, but the value of having the context l…

I also like coloured notes.

I have some pictures of some here: https://medium.com/@richard.goulter/how-i-write-my-notes-94f...

My schema: red: problems/WTF!/etc., green: questions, blue: facts/reference, black: thoughts/everything else.

Post reply on HN