meeting-notes-distiller

Purpose

Convert raw, unstructured meeting notes or a transcript into a clean summary of what was decided and what needs to happen next — the artifact people actually reread, instead of scrolling back through a wall of raw notes.

When to Use

• A meeting just happened and raw notes/transcript exist that need to become a shareable summary.
• Someone missed a meeting and needs to catch up without reading the full transcript.
• A recurring meeting needs a consistent summary format over time.

What to Analyze / Do

1. Separate discussion from decisions — most of a meeting is discussion; only some of it results in an actual decision. Distinguish clearly between "this was debated" and "this was decided."
2. Extract action items — each with an owner if stated or clearly implied, and a deadline if one was mentioned; mark "owner unclear" rather than guessing.
3. Note open questions — things that were raised but not resolved, so they don't silently disappear.
4. Preserve important context/rationale for non-obvious decisions — "we chose X" is less useful than "we chose X because Y consideration outweighed Z," when that reasoning was actually discussed.
5. Keep it short — a meeting summary that's nearly as long as the transcript defeats the purpose.

Output Format

• Decisions — bullet list, each a clear, standalone statement.
• Action Items — table: Action | Owner | Deadline (if any).
• Open Questions — bullet list of unresolved items.
• Optional Context section for decisions that need a brief "why," only when genuinely useful.

Avoid

• Padding with a full chronological recap of everything discussed — summarize outcomes, don't transcribe.
• Inventing an owner or deadline that wasn't actually stated or clearly implied.
• Losing genuinely important dissenting opinions or open questions in service of a tidy-looking summary.