The person designated as the scribe in our weekly Level 10 Meeting is struggling to capture to-dos and notes in real time, which constantly interrupts our IDS flow as we have to stop and wait for them to type or correct what they wrote. How do we handle meeting documentation without losing our momentum?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The role of the scribe in a Level 10 Meeting™ is to capture decisions and action items quickly so the team can maintain momentum during IDS®. When the scribe cannot keep up, or when the team has to constantly pause the conversation to help them draft a to-do, it kills the creative energy required to solve complex issues.

To eliminate this bottleneck, you must simplify how notes are captured. First, stop trying to write meeting minutes or transcripts. The Level 10 Meeting™ does not require a detailed record of who said what. The only things that need to be documented are the final decisions and the specific weekly to-dos. If the scribe is trying to capture the debate itself, they are doing too much.

Second, the responsibility for phrasing to-dos belongs to the facilitator, not the scribe. When an issue is solved, the facilitator should clearly state the exact wording of the resulting to-do and who owns it. For example, the facilitator should say, "Scribe, please write: John to update the pricing sheet by Tuesday." This takes the pressure off the scribe to interpret the conversation and ensures that the meeting documentation is completed in real time without interrupting the flow of your problem-solving.