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Do you still use paper and quill to record notes... or a laptop?

Phil

I thought I would ask the opinion of HR professionals.

Throughout my career I have hand written my investigation and disciplinary notes, some going on to 30 – 40 pages long (and a very saw hand).

What is common place now, is it still to use the old fashioned quill and paper or do people tend to use laptops?

  • I am typing the investigation and disciplinary notes as find it very time saving.
    In my organisation the HR is a supporting function during the process. I have developed the skill to simultaneously type and active listen what is being said.
    Also, the technology and word corrector help a lot by highlighting the typos, so you don't need to concentrate on it when typing.
  • Write *then* type. My handwriting is indecipherable to anyone but me, which provides me with a good deal of plausible deniability when writing up the Board minutes...
  • in reply to Robey
    The key issue is what the note taker is able to do best.
  • Hi, I use my laptop to take all my notes. Like Wendy I used to notetake using shorthand and am a touch typist but as my handwriting has deteriorated over the years, I now find typing directly onto the laptop is best. I have a template I use for notetaking which makes it easy. keyboard sounds are turned off so it does not distract in meetings.
  • I find it almost impossible to hand write notes. I get too much wrist and hand pain if I need to use a pen for more than a minute or two and I also lose attention - I cannot stay wholly focussed on the meeting if I'm writing by hand.

    For me, typing directly works best. I type fast and don't need to see the screen to type accurately, so I can stay engaged in the meeting even though I'm typing away. I tend to just make verbatim notes and then tidy up afterwards, as that doesn't actually require any additional thought and tends to be quicker than trying to structure the notes more carefully. I will bold/italic things that need emphasis as I go with keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+b/i to trigger formatting, ctrl+space to clear formatting) and occasionally colour or highlight too.

    I do sometimes record really important meetings too (with permission) but I've had that backfire (recording corruption or files lost), plus transcription takes AGES.
  • I tend to switch between the two depending on how I feel on the day. I think I generally find the laptop quicker. My colleague who does a lot of investigation meetings always does laptop.