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Project notes that are useful later

By Review.LivePublished 3 min readHow we write

Late on a Thursday, the superintendent is flipping through a pocket notebook for the name of the city inspector who called about the hoarding. The page says "inspector — call back — Tues?" beside a sketch of a manhole. The number was in the call log of a phone replaced in the spring.

A person in a white hard hat flips through a pocket notebook, pen in hand, inside an old stone building.
Photo: ThisisEngineering on Unsplash

Notes fail in two ways: they are written in shorthand only the writer can read, and they are kept where only the writer can find them. A notebook, a phone's notes app and a text to yourself all leave the job when you do. A useful note is short, factual, filed in the project and titled so a colleague can find it by search a year later.

Notes hold what does not fit the daily report: a phone call, an observation, a site rule, a neighbour's request. If a note records a choice between options, make it a decision record instead.

Write every note the same way

  1. Title it with the subject and the place, the way someone would search: "City inspector call — hoarding on Quarry Lane frontage", not "call".
  2. Keep to one subject. Two topics make two notes, so each can be found and closed.
  3. Write the facts: who, what was said or seen, and when, with names, numbers and times; leave out guesses and blame.
  4. Say where: level, area or gridline, and attach a photo if one helps.
  5. Add a tag from the project's short list, such as coordination, safety, authority or neighbour, so notes of one kind can be pulled together.
  6. End with the next action, if there is one: who does what, by when.
  7. File it in the project the same day, where the team can read it.

Common mistakes

  • Titles like "Note", "Misc" or "Update".
  • Three subjects in one long note that can never be marked done.
  • Opinions about people, which tend to reach the people concerned.
  • Notes kept in a personal notebook or phone, which leave with you.

Checklist

Before you save a note

  • A title with the subject and the place
  • One subject only
  • Facts, names, times and numbers
  • Where it happened, and a photo if it helps
  • One tag from the project's list
  • The next action, with an owner and a date
  • Filed in the project today

Check your understanding

A foreman mentions that a neighbour asked the crew not to start before 8:00. Why write a project note when nobody asked you to?

Show the answer
The note records the request, who made it and when, before memories differ. If it later becomes a complaint or a condition from the city, the note shows when you learned of it and what you did. And whoever runs the site next will know about it without being told.

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