Free action items tracker

About this document

An action items tracker is the list a meeting leaves behind: each task with one owner, one due date, and a status. One owner per row is the rule doing the work — items owned by "the team" are owned by nobody.

When to use it

• After any meeting that generated to-dos.
• A small project running without project-management software.
• A standing list you re-open at the start of the next meeting.

Getting it right

• One owner per row even when two people will do the work — the name means "answers for it," not "does it alone."
• Due dates on everything, even soft ones; "someday" rows are where lists go to die.
• Open the next meeting by walking the previous list — that thirty seconds is what makes the tracker real.

It tracks commitments, not the discussion that produced them — that context lives in the minutes it usually starts from.

Common questions

How is this different from my to-do list?

Yours is private. This one is shared, has names on it, and gets read out loud — the visibility is the feature.

What about rows that stay open forever?

Give them a decision at review: a new date, a new owner, or deliberate removal. A tracker with fossils stops being read.

Which statuses should we use?

Fewer than you think — open, in progress, done covers most teams. The column is free text, so use your own words.