Great input, Kendi. I can relate to both of your points. And, I don’t think they’re trivial at all. Tracking action items efficiently and following through with them is difficult work. In fact, your comment reminded me that I’m behind in that area right now! Put that on my list of things to do today.

On your second point, I often feel as you do, but I try to remind myself that the person asking the question (whether it’s me or someone else) may or may not be the one who needs to follow up. If the group is functioning well as a team and the action tracker is visible to everyone, the owner of the action would ideally get their task done and not require much if any pressure or follow up. I have enough experience to know that’s not typically the case, but we can help our teams move that direction.

What insights do others have on Kendi’s experience? What tools or resources have you used to record and track action items with your teams?

Thanks for your comments, Kendi.

Me too!

Scratch paper and pen, whiteboard, post-it notes – I’ve done them all!

Same for me, Steve. I find myself using visuals more and more to understand and explain things. As you said, our minds can often exaggerate things. Converting the clutter in my mind into a coherent visual is often hard for me but always beneficial.

I’m a visual learner. For me, if I can see it, even if it is just a step or process list, it can framework just how tall the task may be. There have been times I’ve surprised myself at how much simpler the reality is over the large obstacle my mind made it out to be!

Glad it helped, my friend.

Great idea, Steve. I think the act of writing (and the thinking required to write) helps process feelings too. Sometimes just writing something down can make it less scary or uncomfortable.

Sometimes I will write down all that is entailed in the action and deliverable, and I highlight the most “uncomfortable” aspects of the task. Consulting with a peer about those aspects can make them seem easier, or at least can direct me to a way to reduce the “discomfort” of them. Sometimes it works, and other times it stands to remain.