Minutes are written in the meeting itself, under topics, as it happens. What comes out the other end is a record and a list of things somebody has to do.
This topic includes:
Topics
A topic is a heading on the agenda: "Safety moment", "Progress against programme", "Open RFIs and submittals". Add them before the meeting and you have an agenda; add them during and you have minutes.
Topics, and the items recorded under each one.
Items
Items sit under a topic and are the substance of the minutes — what was said, what was decided, what somebody agreed to do. Keep one item to one point: merged items are the reason actions get missed.
Owners and dates
An item that is an action needs a named owner and a date. "The MEP contractor to confirm" is not an action; "Tomas Lindqvist to confirm the AHU delivery date by Friday" is. The owner sees it as work assigned to them, and it carries forward into the next meeting in the series until it is done.
Issuing the minutes
Once the meeting is written up, the minutes go out to the invitees. What was recorded stays with the meeting, so the version issued and the version in the project are the same thing rather than two documents that drift apart.
Tip: where an item needs work on site rather than a decision, raise an issue and reference it in the minute. The issue is then tracked in the register that people actually work from.