In important meetings and business negotiations, it is essential to take notes and minutes that record the participants and their comments. However, there are many cases where you may find yourself saying, "I'm busy with other work and I just can't find the time..."
So in this article, we will look back at the experiences (true story) of "Manager M," who enthusiastically says, "I often write by hand!", and explain the key points of "information sharing in the new era using AI," while sorting out the "benefits of handwritten notes" and "how to use digital technology."
What is the benefit of handwritten notes?
Manager M is busy collecting information on the latest generation AI every day. He seems to be a digital expert in every aspect of his work, but he places special importance on remembering and understanding the other party's business structure, especially during the first business meeting, and always writes handwritten notes to make sure the content is deeply understood. What is the benefit of this? First, let me introduce the background.
Memorable
"Handwritten notes stick in the brain (memory) overwhelmingly," said Director M with confidence. More specifically, even if you don't finish your notes as a nice report, when you look at the handwritten letters, you can easily see what you were thinking at the time and what kind of conversation you had, like a video. Now that I think about it, if you remember your school days when you often wrote letters in a notebook... I'm sure you've had a similar experience.
High degree of freedom
Manager M says that one of the benefits of handwriting is that you can write information freely as you like. For example, if you add speech bubbles and pictures as needed in addition to text, you can create visually easy-to-read notes. It is generally said that handwriting uses a wide range of the brain, making it easier to demonstrate creativity that maximizes one's potential, which is thought to lead to point 1.
Maybe it will change the impression others have of you?
When talking to people, there is no doubt that looking at their face (eyes) as much as possible makes a good impression. Manager M values this point and seems to think that it is also an advantage because "since the information that can be recorded is kept to a minimum, it is relatively easy to concentrate on the conversation" and "it is easy for the other person to know that you are listening carefully."
We even use digital!
"It's also useful when you can't use a computer for some reason," says Manager M, as he continues to talk about the benefits of handwriting as if it were number one. However, this is by no means a declaration of "I won't rely on digital!" So, when does he use digital?
When you need real customer feedback
For example, in the early stages of negotiations, when aligning requirements and understanding with a customer, it is necessary to record the customer's voice as realistically as possible, rather than interpreting it in your own notes. It is certainly important to avoid being influenced by your own cognitive bias when it comes to the issues the customer is facing, or problems arising from a lack of information.
When you feel the limitations of handwriting
As you're talking, things get more exciting and the conversation takes longer than planned... that may be a good thing in itself. However, keeping accurate records is a different story. You may get so engrossed in the conversation that you can't keep up with your notes, or forget to write them down, and end up breaking out in a sweat later... (It can be a bit awkward to ask someone to repeat something you've already said.) Especially during long conversations, it would be reassuring to have a way to record things other than by hand.
When it takes time to organize for sharing
In most cases, the contents of the notes you create need to be shared with the relevant parties. There's no problem if you can immediately transfer them to a computer or smartphone, but if you wait a long time before organizing them, you may forget or miss important information, even though handwritten notes are easier to remember. As the saying goes, "it's better to be safe than sorry," so when you're busy, it's best to prepare measures early.
There are issues with sharing the notes you create...
Whether handwritten or digital, in order to share notes you have created with the relevant parties, you must first organize what you have written. For reference, when I asked Manager M how much time it took him to organize his handwritten notes, he said, "About two hours for five business meetings a day." If you add in the time it takes to register cases in CRM and input data into Excel, it takes even more time.
In other words, more than a quarter of your working day is spent just organizing your notes. That's a big deal... Perhaps many people have the same problem.
In an attempt to overcome this serious situation, Director M had previously tried to use a tool that would automatically read text from photographs and convert it into text. However, the accuracy of the tool was poor, it was difficult to use, and it took a long time to edit, so it was not put to practical use.
They were also aware of tools such as Google Docs that can transcribe voice input directly into text, but they didn't use these either because they still needed to edit the text neatly afterwards.
The savior was "generative AI"
Faced with a hellish choice between giving up on the important memo and shelving it, or continuing to work hard despite the pain and wasting a lot of time, Manager M seemed to be in a desperate situation, but then a groundbreaking invention came to his rescue.
This is the "generative AI" that has been a hot topic in recent years. As the name suggests, generative AI can be used to generate a variety of creative ideas. When it comes to notes, even if you enter a somewhat disorganized text, it is characterized by the fact that it will instantly organize the content according to your instructions.
Introducing the Ninja Consolidation!
There are countless types of generative AI, but the tool that revolutionized Director M 's work was "Omatome Ninja." This tool transcribes what is said on the spot, automatically summarizes it, and creates reports and minutes.
Of course, it is not only possible to input text by voice, but also to copy and paste text that you have prepared in advance and have it summarized. In other words, the user's action is either "just speaking" or "just copying and pasting".
Work reduced from "more than 2 hours" to "5 minutes"!
"Considering the situation up until now where we had to somehow digitize handwritten notes, the efficiency that this tool has brought is a huge innovation," says Director M. "Omatome Ninja" can be launched immediately with either a PC or smartphone, and a major advantage is that the work can be completed with just one tool, without the need to use multiple software or tools at the same time.
When I asked Manager M how much time it took him to organize his notes after he started using Omatome Ninja, he replied with a bit of pride, "Maybe five minutes." In percentage terms, that means he's been able to reduce his work time by more than 90 %.
So that you can pick up the "spill balls"
There was another benefit that the "Summary Ninja" brought to Manager M. That was that he no longer had to choose what information to share with his colleagues.
For example, if Director M had 100 pieces of information during a business meeting, it would have been very difficult for him to convey all of them using his traditional methods. In that case, only the information deemed important would be conveyed to his colleagues, but there may have been colleagues who wanted the information that was cut out (given up on being conveyed).
However, after meeting "Omatome Ninja", Director M was able to simply talk about the 100 pieces of information as he pleased, and then just drop the organized information (text) directly into the communication tool with his colleagues. If the necessary information reaches the people who need it, we can expect new innovations to be born. Director M was also pleased with this, saying, "I'm glad that I was able to make my actions visible and have a positive impact on those around me."
Having been saved by cutting-edge technology, Manager M is full of energy and heads out to business meetings today with his valuable partner, the "Consolidation Ninja," in hand.
Summary
This time, the theme was "taking notes," and we explained it using real-life stories.
Both handwritten and digital methods have their own advantages. What I want to tell you in particular today is that you don't need to change your current way of doing things. For example, if you like writing by hand, like Director M, there's no problem with continuing to do so.
However, if you find it time-consuming to organize your notes, you may be able to significantly improve your work efficiency by considering using a generation AI like Omatome Ninja. As the saying goes, "seeing is believing," so why not take this opportunity to give it a try?
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