Summarizing Meetings

Overall Meeting Summary Template

# Meeting Summary | [Meeting Name] | [Date]

## Overview
**Attendees**: [List participants]
**Duration**: [Approximate length]
**Purpose**: [Meeting objective]

## Brain Distribution

| Brain | Items Routed | Key Outcome |
|------------|--------------|-------------|
| [Brain 1] | [N] items | [One-line summary] |
| [Brain 2] | [N] items | [One-line summary] |
| Unmatched | [N] items | Pending assignment |

## Cross-Brain Themes
- [Theme across multiple brains]
- [Dependencies identified]

## Consolidated Action Items
| # | Action | Owner | Due | Brain |
|---|--------|-------|-----|------------|
| 1 | [Action] | [Name] | [Date] | [Brain] |

## Unresolved Items
- [Items requiring follow-up]

## Next Steps
- [Overall next steps]

Quick Recap Format

For short meetings or highlights only:

**Meeting Recap** | [Meeting Name] | [Date]

**Routed to Brains:**
- [Brain 1]: [N] items ([one-line summary])
- [Brain 2]: [N] items ([one-line summary])

**Key Decisions:**
- [Decision 1] → [Brain]

**Action Items:**
- [ ] [Action] - [Owner] - [Due] → [Brain]

**Unmatched Items**: [N] items pending assignment

Updating Brain CLAUDE.md Files

Key Decisions Section

Append new decisions:

- **[Decision Topic]** (YYYY-MM-DD)
  - *Decision*: [What was decided]
  - *Rationale*: [Why this choice]
  - *Trade-offs*: [What we're giving up]
  - *Related docs*: Meeting notes [Date]

Current Status Section

Update if meeting changed status:

**Last Updated**: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM
- **Progress**: [Updated based on discussion]
- **Recent Changes**: [What changed]
- **Next Milestone**: [Updated if discussed]

Open Questions Section

• Mark questions as RESOLVED if answered
• Add new questions raised

Update Prompt

Before updating any CLAUDE.md, ask:

Should I update [Brain Name]/CLAUDE.md with:
- [N] decisions
- [N] action items
- [N] status updates
- [N] questions resolved

Proceed? (y/n)

LNO Classification for Items

Classify items using Leverage-Neutral-Overhead:

Prioritization in Summaries

1. Lead with Leverage items - Top of each section
2. Group Neutral items - Standard sections
3. Minimize Overhead - Only if actionable

The "Skeptical Executive" Test

Before finalizing, ensure summary answers:

If any question can't be answered → there's a gap.

Example Input

Routed items:
- frontend-modernization: 2 decisions, 1 action
- api-platform: 1 blocker, 2 discussions
- Unmatched: 0 items

Example Output

# Meeting Summary | Weekly Sync | 2026-01-21

## Overview
**Attendees**: Engineering Lead, PM, Designer
**Duration**: 30 minutes
**Purpose**: Weekly status and blockers

## Brain Distribution
| Brain | Items | Key Outcome |
|------------|-------|-------------|
| frontend-modernization | 3 | React migration approved |
| api-platform | 3 | API blocker identified |

## Consolidated Action Items
| # | Action | Owner | Due | Brain |
|---|--------|-------|-----|------------|
| 1 | Create React migration plan | Engineering | Jan 28 | frontend-modernization |
| 2 | Escalate API blocker | PM | Jan 22 | api-platform |

## Next Steps
- React migration kickoff scheduled for next week
- API blocker needs resolution before launch

Quality Gates

• Per-brain summaries generated
• Overall summary includes all routed items
• Cross-brain dependencies noted
• Action items have owners and deadlines
• Leverage items highlighted
• CLAUDE.md updates confirmed with user

Anti-Patterns

• ❌ Summarizing before complete read-through
• ❌ Losing context when splitting by brain
• ❌ Forgetting cross-brain dependencies
• ❌ Overwriting existing CLAUDE.md content
• ❌ Adding duplicates
• ✅ Maintain overall context while routing to brains
• ✅ Append only, verify before writing
• ✅ Ask before updating CLAUDE.md files

Success Criteria

1. Per-brain summaries actionable
2. Overall summary provides cross-brain context
3. CLAUDE.md files updated correctly
4. Leverage items highlighted
5. User can take immediate action from summary