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What belongs in the ledger?
Use the ledger to capture decisions and the actions that follow from them. Keep those separate from discussion: a topic being raised or explored is not, by itself, a decision or a commitment.
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The U.S. National Archives advises documenting significant meetings and decisions, including resulting actions and assignments of responsibility. For formal and high-level staff meetings, its suggested minimum meeting file includes participants and titles, the agenda, materials distributed, significant discussion, decisions and actions, follow-up actions, and responsibility assignments. That is guidance for agency recordkeeping, not a universal checklist for every team; it illustrates why a decision ledger should reflect actual outcomes rather than activity for its own sake. National Archives, A Management Guide: Agency Recordkeeping Requirements.
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- Begin with no assumed commitments. Do not import hypothetical tasks just to populate the ledger.
- When a decision is made, record the outcome. Add enough context and rationale for a reader to understand later what was decided and why. The Charity Commission for England and Wales says minutes should capture decisions, reasons, information used, and actions to carry them out; the appropriate level of detail depends on complexity and risk. Minutes need not reproduce every word spoken. Charity Commission, charity meetings and decision-making.
- Record decisions made outside meetings, too. The Charity Commission’s trustee decision guidance says those decisions should also be recorded, with the issue and reasoning explained well enough for someone to understand them later. Charity Commission, trustee meetings.
- Add follow-up only when it is real. Describe the specific action, identify the responsible person, and include a deadline when one has been set. If no deadline exists yet, mark it as unsettled for the team to resolve rather than making one up. Treating an unset deadline this way is a practical application of accurate recordkeeping, not a quoted rule.
Keep decisions distinct from actions
A decision states the agreed outcome; an action states the work that will implement it. For example, “Approve the revised launch date” is a decision. “Maya to update the release plan by Friday” is a follow-up action—if that owner and deadline were actually agreed.
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The Scottish Housing Regulator recommends clear statements of decisions and separate statements of follow-up actions, along with an ongoing action schedule. It also recommends making the action, responsible person, and deadline clear. Its guidance applies to registered social landlords in Scotland; other teams can use the method as good practice, but it is not a legal obligation for every organization. Scottish Housing Regulator, minutes and record-keeping.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Review the ledger as work changes
At the next review, update open and completed actions and add newly agreed decisions or commitments. The Scottish Housing Regulator recommends updating a rolling action schedule at each meeting. A simple status convention—newly agreed, open, or completed—can make the record easier to scan; those labels are a practical implementation choice, not a status system prescribed by the cited guidance.
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If Week 1 ends with no actual decisions or commitments, leave the ledger empty and say so plainly. The official guidance supports accurate, useful recordkeeping; it does not establish that an empty first-week ledger improves executive performance or that the ledger should contain a minimum number of entries.
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