Meeting checkpoints
What people say and what they mean are usually two different things.
I was on a call today with a potential future client and I performed a "checkpoint." Like when Mario passes through those flags in a level and it saves your current progress.
A checkpoint quickly summarizes what the other people in the meeting said previously.
As a developer this might seem uncomfortable at first but one easy phrase to start is "So what I'm hearing is..."
"Question. What I'm hearing is that we need to add SSR support for the load more button and UX isn't ready yet, is that right?"
You could say phrases like:
- "Okay, so the way I understand this is..."
- "If I could summarize, we've been saying..."
- "So to recap..."
Whatever feels like you in a way that == summarizing.
Posing it as a question opens the floor. 9 out of 10 times there's something that needs to be clarified or someone has a question about.
Getting really good at this is incredibly helpful for getting clear with clients, vendors, the plumber, and just about anyone else in your life plus you'll seem like a badass.
Do this once halfway through a meeting and then again at the end to wrap-up.
Bonus objective: Type the summary into a follow-up email as the outcome (with action items, if needed) which is a high-level move which makes you stand out to your co-workers (and boss).
Gain +1 Charisma
Cheers,
Kamran