Ughgh—Ughgh—Ughgh (Poor thing, he must be simply furious) Ughgh—wheek—Whughughyuh—Ughwheekyuhuughgyughyuhyuhy a a a a a a a h h h h h h R h R h R H R H R H (oh, stop it!) R H R H (a window went up) R H R H R H R H R H R yuhyhhRRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRH (the door smacked to in rage and triumph) RhRhRh - - - - - - - - (the window went down) RHRHRHRHRH (the machine backed out; crackling on the cinders). RHRH - - - - - (he wrenched it rudely but adroitly in a backward curve, almost to the chicken wire; from between the houses, light from the street caught its black side) rhrh - - - - (and swung as rudely round the corner of the barn and, by opposite turn, into the alley, facing eastward, where it stood) rhrh - - - - - - - - (obedient, conquered, malicious as a mule, while he briefly reappeared, faced towards the house, saw her, waved one hand—she waved, but he did not see her—and drew the gate shut, disappearing beyond it)

The format for minutes of meeting that the secretary had been using, however, was almost as thorough as a court transcription. I had to admire the thoroughness of the secretary, and she did seem to be a very competent and intelligent officer, but nonetheless she had no idea how to write down meeting details. It would be a nightmare to have to record all the minutes again, but it seemed like this was what we would have to do. We had to individually go through all of her notes, summarize them, put them down in the proper format for minutes of meetings, and refile them. It took hours upon hours, and was not much fun.

Now that we have more distinct, properly formatted notes, it is much easier to review the records. Until we went through them all, there was just too much information. A lot of people think that thoroughness is the only goal, but it is not. In this modern business world, being able to safely include the relevant information is even more important. If you are writing down too much stuff, the important facts will get lost in the shuffle. If your format for minutes of meetings is straightforward and to the point, however, any important decision can be easily index and looked up at a moments notice.