Join the dots.

Information comes in all shapes, from a meeting to a report to a call you half remember. None of it is knowledge yet. It turns into knowledge when someone works out what it means and writes it down.

That’s what a note is for. Whatever the source, the note says what happened and what happens next. Tasks sit in it as checkboxes, people are mentioned by name, and the writing around them explains why they’re there.

Write it yourself. A tool can do a first draft, which saves real time, but fix it and put it in your own words. Reading someone else’s summary isn’t the same as working it out yourself.

Sources go into the note, and the note is where everything else starts. A reply or a proposal should start from what you made of the material, then go back to the material for evidence.

Say you’ve had a client call. The recording and the brief they sent are the sources. The note is where you write down that the deadline has moved and why, add a task to chase the new quote, and name the two people who need to know. That’s what you’ll come back to, long after you’ve stopped needing the recording.