From rough draft to clean document

This lesson is still being tested: it improves with learners' feedback. If something is unclear, it is the lesson that needs fixing, not you.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to

turn rough notes into a structured document: meeting notes, a sheet, an email;
tell the AI who the document is for, and what it is not allowed to do: make things up, decide for you;
have an outline proposed before the writing;
spot a contradiction and a missing piece of information, and have them flagged.

Why it matters to you

Cleaning up notes is one of the most common uses of AI, at work and at home: meeting notes, an organization sheet, a summary email.

It is also where it can go wrong most quietly: faced with missing information, it sometimes guesses, and the document looks perfect. The three rules in this lesson ask it to show you the gaps instead of plugging them.

Before you start


You need	Your assistant, free account, and rough notes (your own, or the fictional notes in the resource)
Cost	€0
Duration	40 minutes
Reminder	Nothing from the “never” list in your notes; for work notes, check what your employer allows

Understand it in 3 minutes

A document is built for a reader. “Clean up my notes” doesn’t say whether it is for the people who were there, for someone who was absent, or for you in six months. Say it, and say the form: meeting notes, a sheet, an email.

Three rules to give the AI, every time:

What the AI sometimes does	The rule you give it
Plugs a gap with a plausible guess	“If information is missing, write [to be completed]”
Picks one version when your notes are ambiguous or contradict each other	“If two pieces of information contradict each other, don’t choose: flag it in the points to confirm”
Adds things to look “complete”	“Use only my notes”

In our tests, the contradictory dates were flagged without any instruction, but a point the notes didn’t state (who follows up with Inès) was assigned to someone, and an ambiguous note was settled for us. The three rules cover these three cases.

You are back to the method from module 2: SAY (the reader, the form, the rules), DISCUSS (the outline first), DO, CHECK (four questions), NOTE (keep the request that worked).

The four checking questions, which you will go deeper into in lesson 6:

Nothing made up: every piece of information can be found in your notes.
Nothing forgotten: every important point in your notes is in the document.
Contradictions are flagged, not settled.
Actions are clear: who, what, by when.

Do it together

The notes in the example are fictional: a meeting between a client who makes lamps, their design agency, and you.

1Step 1: Say it, with the rules, and ask for an outline

Here are my rough notes from a meeting (the companies and people are fictional). I want to turn them into meeting notes to send to the participants.
Rules: use only my notes. If information is missing, write [to be completed]. If two pieces of information contradict each other, don't choose: flag it in a section called "Points to confirm".
Before writing, propose an outline with 4 parts at most. Don't write anything until I say go.

meeting 3/11 video call - client Ombrelune (lamps) + agency Pictoplume + me
- christmas campaign: 3 insta visuals + 1 website banner
- client wants a "warm" tone, not "luxury"
- client refused the gold color
- agency delivers V1 of the visuals on 12/11 ? (Marc says 14)
- ad budget not yet approved on the client side -> follow up with Inès
- banner formats: I'm the one sending them to the agency
- next meeting: not set

2Step 2: Approve the outline, then give the go-ahead

A good outline looks like: Decisions, Actions (who, what, when), Points to confirm, Next meeting. The assistant may add one or two format questions at the end of the outline (table or list, signature): answer in one line, or write “whatever you prefer”. If you don’t answer, it may choose on its own (in our test, it said so). If the outline suits you:

Go: write the meeting notes with this outline.

3Step 3: Check with the four questions

Reread the meeting notes with your notes beside them.

The trap: your notes give two delivery dates, 12/11 and 14/11. The meeting notes must flag them under points to confirm. If one was chosen, ask:

My notes give two delivery dates: 12/11 and 14/11. Fix the meeting notes to flag this under points to confirm, without choosing.

The gap: who should follow up with Inès? Your notes don’t say. If the meeting notes put a name, it is a guess: replace it with [to be completed].
The actions: does each one have who, what, and when? “Send the banner formats” has someone (you) but no date: [to be completed].

4Step 4: The email, as a draft

Now write a short email to send these meeting notes to the participants. It is a draft: I will send it myself after rereading it.

The AI writes; you send, after rereading. The email repeats the points to confirm: it is the simplest way to get them settled.

Your turn

Your notes from this week: a meeting, a call, a project idea, an event you are organizing. Or another fictional variant from the resource (everyday or creator).

Write your request: the reader, the form, the three rules, and “propose an outline for me”.
Approve the outline, then give the go-ahead.
Check with the four questions, and have anything wrong corrected.
Keep your request as a template in your request library (module 2).

Resources to download

Fictional notes to practice with: three sets of rough notes (everyday, work, creator), each with its trap, and the answers at the end.

Check your work

It worked if:

every piece of information in the document can be found in your notes;
every important point in your notes is in the document;
contradictions are under points to confirm, with no choice made for you;
each action has who, what and when, or [to be completed] where your notes don’t say.

Common mistakes:

“Clean this up” without saying who it is for: the document is useful to no one in particular;
letting a guess plug a gap (a name, a date): this is the source of misunderstandings;
rereading the document without your notes beside it: you can’t see what is missing;
letting the AI send, or sending without rereading: sending stays your move.

Keep it and pick it up later

Your request with the three rules is a template: store it in your library, with brackets for [the reader] and [the form].
Keep the final meeting notes next to your original notes: later you will be able to check where each piece of information came from.

Going further

optional

Try the same request with a different form: a one-page sheet, or a short message for a messaging app. You will see that the outline changes with the reader.
Polished formatting (headings, styles, document template) is the subject of module 10, lessons 1 and 2.

New words

4 words explained

Word	What it means
Meeting notes	The document that sums up a meeting: decisions, actions, points to confirm
Point to confirm	A piece of information that is uncertain or contradictory, to be settled by the people concerned
[to be completed]	The mark of a piece of information missing from your notes, instead of a guess
Draft	A version to reread before anything is sent