Overview

Action items from meetings are easily forgotten without tracking. Claude can automatically extract action items from meeting records, organize them into lists with owners and deadlines, ensuring items get completed.

Use Cases

Weekly meeting action item tracking
Project meeting follow-up tasks
Client meeting commitments
Cross-department collaboration to-dos

Steps

Step 1: Extract Action Items

Identify action items from meeting minutes.

Please analyze the meeting minutes: ~/meetings/weekly_2025_01_15.md
Extract all action items, identify:
- Specific task to be done
- Owner (who is responsible)
- Deadline
- Priority
- Dependencies
Format output as a table

Step 2: Create Tracking List

Generate a structured task list.

Please create an action items list: ~/meetings/action_items.md

Format:
## To Do (This Week)
- [ ] Task 1 - @Zhang San - Due: Jan 20 - 🔴 High
- [ ] Task 2 - @Li Si - Due: Jan 22 - 🟡 Medium

## In Progress
- [x] Completed task - @Wang Wu - Completed: Jan 16

Sort by priority and deadline
Add unique number to each task for easy reference

Step 3: Send Action Item Confirmation

Generate an action items email for the team.

Please generate an action item confirmation email:
Subject: [Action Items] January 15 Weekly Meeting To-Dos
Content:
- Meeting summary
- Specific task list for each person
- Deadline reminders
- Reply if questions or adjustments needed
- Attach complete action items table
Tone: Friendly but formal, clear accountability

Step 4: Set Up Reminders

Create an automatic reminder script.

Please create a reminder script: ~/scripts/action_reminder.sh
Functions:
- Check action_items.md file daily
- Identify tasks due today and tomorrow
- Send reminder notifications to owners
- For overdue tasks, send escalation reminder and CC manager
- Log reminder history
Set to run automatically at 9am daily

Step 5: Generate Progress Report

Periodically summarize action item completion status.

Please generate this week's action item progress report:
Statistics:
- Total tasks
- Completed count and percentage
- In-progress tasks
- Overdue tasks (highlight in red)
- Completion rate by owner
Identify bottlenecks:
- Which tasks are repeatedly delayed?
- Who has the most accumulated tasks?
Recommendations:
- Tasks that need reassignment
- Blockers that need escalation discussion
Save as ~/meetings/progress_report.md

Warning: Action items must be specific and clear - avoid vague descriptions like "optimize the system". A good action item should be: "Optimize API response time from 500ms to 200ms by January 20".

Tip: Use a tag system to categorize action items (#dev #design #testing) for easy filtering and assignment by type. Can be integrated with project management tools like Jira, Trello, etc.

Common Questions

Q: How to handle long-term tasks that span multiple meetings? A: Create separate tracking files for long-term tasks, and focus only on this week's subtasks in weekly meetings. Or use project management tools to track milestones.

Q: What if the owner is unclear? A: Clarify on the spot during the meeting. If discovered afterwards, follow up to confirm promptly. Tasks without clear owners are unlikely to get completed.

Q: What if there are too many action items to complete? A: This indicates unreasonable task allocation. Need to: 1) Re-evaluate priorities; 2) Extend deadlines; 3) Reassign tasks; 4) Cancel low-priority tasks.