Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Decision logs

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Aug 8, 2015, at 11:49 AM, Lynn Nadeau / Maraiah <welcome [at] olympus.net> 
> wrote:
> 
> Some free advice from one who has kept records for much of our 26 years:
> Date everything. Include the year!
> Standardize your subject lines. Avoid notes with titles like "Tuesday's 
> meeting" or "Finance Committee minutes". Choose something like 
> RW minutes 8-8-15, Steering Notes 2-17-13. 

And use the full name of members present. (Can use first names later in the 
text.) We have a horrendous number of duplicate names. I recently asked the 
resale pod to filter new residents: Must have or adopt a unique name. Like 
Actors Equity.

We even have duplicates of unusual names like Robbin and Robyn. Kira the cat 
and Kira the child. 2 Pauls (who live next door to each other; another 2 Paul’s 
in old minutes. Anna, Ann, Anne. Steve and Stephen. Philip and Filipe. Jose and 
Joe. 3 Jennifers. 3-4 Mikes and Michaels in old and present minutes. 2 
Dennises. 2 Debbi’s.

No John’s.

Sharon and Sharyn is particularly difficult for new members because one of us 
handles email lists and calendars and the other orientations. We say I’m the O; 
she’s the Y.

I give thanks for names like Quame, Chazz, Ariel, Sucha, Camille. And 
Bernadette, even though the length messes up the columns on the contact list.

Why is this important in minutes? Because it allows you to go back and see that 
when so-and-so says we never even discussed that, you can check to see if they 
were in the meeting. Or that they were and didn’t object. AND whether there was 
a quorum or not because someone counted an associate member incorrectly. Which 
Paul was that?

Life is complicated in the fast lane. 

(Until recently we had one month with no birthdays and another with 15+.)

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org