What are action items?
Updated · By Robert Breen
Action items are the specific tasks that come out of a meeting or conversation, each with one owner and a due date. "Redo the dough schedule, Luis, by Tuesday" is an action item. "We should look at the schedule" is not, because nobody owns it and nothing says when.
Why it matters for a small business
Meetings feel productive and then nothing happens, usually because the tasks were said out loud and never written down with a name and a date. A list of action items is what turns a conversation into work. It is also the part of any meeting summary people actually reread.
AI is fast at pulling tasks out of a long, rambling meeting transcript, but it has a dangerous habit: when an owner or date isn't said, it fills one in that sounds right. A made-up due date in a recap email becomes a promise. The fix is to tell it what to do when something is missing.
In a real lesson: Summarize a Meeting Transcript with ChatGPT
In the Summarize a Meeting Transcript lesson, you paste a request into ChatGPT above the transcript of a team meeting at Harbor Street Bakery, a made-up bakery. Item 3 asks for "The action items as a table: task, owner, due date," and the last line sets the rule: "Only use what's in the transcript. If an owner or date isn't said, write "Not stated"."
ChatGPT returns four action items. Two due dates say Not stated, and that is correct: Sam said "I'll do the quote" for Oakwood Library and Luis said he would call the repair company about oven two, but nobody said when. Because you were in the meeting, you fill the gaps: "The library quote is due Wednesday, and Luis will call about the oven today." ChatGPT updates the table.
Only then do you ask for the follow-up email to the team, so every task in it has an owner and a date. The lesson's last advice applies to every meeting: always check the owners and dates before the recap goes out.
Try this lesson free or read the step-by-step guide.
Common confusions
Action items vs decisions
A decision is what the group agreed ("pre-orders open October twelfth"). An action item is the work someone does because of it ("Priya sets up the order form by October ninth"). Ask for them as separate lists so neither gets lost.
Action items vs open questions
An open question has no owner yet, like the bakery's van lease decision. Listing it as an action item would hide that nobody has picked it up.
Tips
- Ask for a table with task, owner and due date. Gaps are obvious in a table and easy to miss in a paragraph.
- One owner per item. "Team" is not an owner.
- Start each task with a verb: call, send, set up, review.
Related terms
Where you use it: free lessons
- Summarize a Meeting Transcript with ChatGPT (ChatGPT, 9 min)
- Turn a Client Meeting into Action Items and a Follow-Up Email (Accounting Firms) (ChatGPT, 9 min)
- Turn an Interview Debrief into a Scorecard and a Candidate Follow-Up (Recruiting & HR) (ChatGPT, 9 min)
More free tutorials
Prompt templates that use it
Frequently asked questions
- How do I stop ChatGPT inventing due dates?
- Tell it to use only what is in the transcript and to write "Not stated" when an owner or date is missing. Then fill those gaps yourself.
- Where should action items go after the meeting?
- Into the recap email and into whatever you use to track work, so each owner sees their task and its date.