Analysing Meeting Records: An Ethnographic Study and Technological Implications

1
Analysing Meeting Records An Ethnographic Study
and Technological Implications

• Steve Whittaker, Rachel Laban and Simon Tucker
• University of Sheffield

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Introduction

• Meetings are inefficient.
• Estimates of productivity ranges from 33-47
• Inefficient in many ways
• Process Loss
• Free Riding
• Conformance Pressure
• Information Loss

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Introduction

• Previous work has developed technology for
  capturing and reviewing meeting discussions.
• Predominant technologies in use today are still
  low-tech.
• Important to revisit the issue of information
  capture.
• Examine representations and processing of meeting
  information
• Use this examination to empirically evaluate
  current meeting access technology

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Presentation Outline

• Description of Study into meeting records
• Analysis of Public meeting records
• Analysis of Personal meeting records
• Examination of technological implications
• Conclusion

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Study Context

• We examined two UK service firms
• One responsible for mail deliveries
• One supplying software services
• Observed a series of meetings for teams in each
  case
• Teams had between 5 and 7 members
• Meetings examined ranged from 3 to 16
  participants
• Meetings were task-oriented

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Data Collected

• We collected a wide range of data
• Observations of behaviour
• Analysis of personal notes
• Pre and post interviews with participants
• Transcripts made of a subset of all the meetings
• Confidentiality preserved

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Public Meeting Records

• Most commonly this will be minutes
• Shared record of decisions and action points for
  a single meeting
• Generally produced by a single person a
  designated minuter
• Minutes are a highly abstract representation of
  the events of the meeting.

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Function of public records

• Tracking Group Progress
• Meetings often begin by running through the
  minutes from the previous meeting
• Serve to assist individuals co-ordinate their
  actions
• A public record of past actions and decisions
• Very occasionally minutes used to answer
  questions regarding past commitments

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Function of Public Records

• Remind people about their commitments
• Serve as a communal todo list
• Resolve disputes about commitments
• The minutes act as an implicit contract between
  group members
• Minutes are often formally signed off
• Used to determine who was assigned to particular
  tasks

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Limitations of Public Records

• Not all meetings were minuted
• Minutes were occasionally inaccurate
• Participants often checked the minutes against
  their own notes.
• Minutes lack contextual information.
• Hence participants must take their own notes.
• Minutes are selective
• Minutes are not timely
• Often taking a number of days to produce

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Limitations of Public Records

• Laborious to produce
• Designated minuter required reduced
  contribution
• Minutes dont capture meeting experience
• Participants may require a richer meeting record
• Peripheral aspects
• Minutes largely only record decisions and actions

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Personal Meeting Records

• Participants address the limitations of public
  meeting records by taking own notes
• Personal records highly valued
• Notes reflect personal perspective
• Largely consist of decisions, actions and context
• Often cryptic, used as more of a memory aid.
• Can be used to inform non-attendees

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Functions of Personal Records

• Personal Reminders
• Provide contextual information
• Check accuracy of minutes
• Brief others on meeting contents

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Limitations of Personal Records

• Taking notes reduces the ability to contribute
• Notes often lack accuracy and comprehensibility
• Esoteric nature makes it difficult for
  non-attendees to understand.

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Technological Implications

• Current technology addresses the limitations of
  public records
• Can provide both a contextual and immersive
  experience
• No longer laborious or untimely
• Although some problems are still present
• Current meeting browsers offer no abstraction
  facilities
• There is a question of the formality of
  automatically generated meeting records

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Technological Implications

• Technology also addresses the limitations of
  personal records.
• Reduces the burden on producing contextual
  records
• Non-attendees no longer hindered by esoterics
• Again, there are still problems with technology
• Browsers do not exploit progress in note-taking
  technology
• Lack of direct access to decisions and actions

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Summary

• We have examined the use of meeting records in
  two firms.
• Meetings generally produce two sets of records
• Public record generally minutes.
• Personal records generally personal notes
• We noted the advantages and disadvantages of both
  sets of records
• We briefly examined how technology is addressing
  the limitations of the records.