What an action is
An action is a commitment someone made in a meeting: to send a drawing, confirm a date, price a change, fix a defect. It is not a topic or a worry. If nobody agreed to do something, it is a risk or an open question, and it belongs in that part of the minutes.
The columns that matter
| Column | Rule |
|---|---|
| Reference | The minutes item number, kept until the action closes |
| Action | One thing to do, starting with a verb |
| Owner | One named person, not a company or "all" |
| Due | The date agreed in the meeting, or blank |
| Status | Open, closed, or RAG if your project uses it |
| How it closed | The date and what happened: issued, confirmed, superseded |
Habits that close actions
- Review open actions first. Taking the log at the start of the meeting means late actions get discussed while there is time.
- One owner each. An action shared by two people is owned by neither.
- Do not invent dates. If no date was agreed, leave it blank and ask for one at the next meeting.
- Close actions in writing. "Closed: drawing rev C issued 12 March" is a record; a deleted row is not.
- Do not let actions migrate. If an action keeps rolling over, it is a risk. Say so, and raise it as one.
Where the log lives
Most teams keep the log in the minutes, in a spreadsheet, or both. The risk with two places is that they disagree. Keep one source and copy from it.
In Note Metric, actions are taken from what was said, with an owner and a date only where they were spoken. Home shows the open actions from your meetings, and in the browser the open actions from a project's last meeting can be carried into the next meeting's minutes as context. Claude, ChatGPT and other assistants connected on the Pro and Elite plans can list them too, read only.
Questions
Should actions have a RAG status?
It helps on long-running projects. Agree what red, amber and green mean, and apply them the same way each meeting.
What about actions that belong to someone not in the meeting?
Record them against the person who agreed to pass them on, and note who they are for. The person in the room is the one accountable for the next step.
How is an action log different from an early warning register?
An action is a commitment to do something. An early warning is notice of a matter that could affect cost, time or quality. Under NEC4 the Early Warning Register records each matter and the actions agreed to avoid or reduce its effects, so the two link, but they are kept separately.
Sources
- CIOB, Code of Practice for Project Management for the Built Environment, 6th edition: project control, reporting and follow-up
- NEC, NEC101 early warning webinar (PDF): how actions are recorded against early warnings
- CECA, NEC4 Bulletin No. 5: Early warnings and liability for not notifying (PDF): the register, the meetings and deciding who takes each action
Our summaries of these documents are not their wording: read the source before relying on it. This guide is general information, not legal advice for a particular case. Note Metric and AI Metric Ltd are not affiliated with or endorsed by any body named here.