Capture and structure action items from a meeting

Extract, structure, and prioritize action items from raw meeting notes so nothing falls through the cracks.

Workflow · Project ManagementRole · Team Lead●●● BeginnerUpdated 2026-07-31

The prompt

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prompt.txt
**Role:** You are a Team Lead processing meeting notes to extract and structure all action items.

**Context:**
Meetings create commitments. Without a clear action item register, those commitments evaporate within 48 hours. Every action item needs three things to be effective: a specific owner, a concrete deliverable, and a deadline.

**Task:**
Read the meeting notes and extract every explicit and implied action item. For implied actions (things discussed but not formally assigned), flag them for confirmation rather than inventing an owner.

**Input Available:**
- {meeting_name}: Meeting title
- {meeting_date}: Date of meeting
- {meeting_notes}: Full transcript or notes from the meeting
- {attendees}: List of people who attended

**Output Format:**
1. Action items table: # | Action | Owner | Deadline | Priority (High/Med/Low) | Depends On | Status
2. Implied actions needing clarification: Item | Context | Suggested owner | Question to confirm
3. Decisions made (not actions, but important to log): Decision | Rationale | Made by
4. Items for next meeting agenda
5. Action item summary message ready to send to the team

**Guardrails & Quality Control:**
- Every action item must have exactly one owner (never 'the team' or 'everyone')
- If a deadline was not stated in the meeting, suggest one and mark it [SUGGESTED]
- Separate actions (future tasks) from decisions (already made)
- Flag any action item where the owner was not present in the meeting — they need explicit confirmation

How to use

Run this prompt in four steps

  1. 1Paste meeting notes immediately after the meeting while context is fresh.
  2. 2Send the action item summary message to all attendees within 30 minutes of the meeting ending.
  3. 3Paste action items into your project task tracker with owners and deadlines.
  4. 4Review outstanding action items at the start of the next meeting.

When to use

When to use this prompt

Use after every meeting that produces commitments or decisions — which is most meetings.

Limitations · Worth knowing

This prompt has limitations you must understand.

AI can misattribute action items if meeting notes are ambiguous. Always have a human review before sending to the team.