A client calls. “I thought we agreed on X.” You remember Y. No email, no notes. Now it’s your word against theirs. This happens to everyone once. After that, you start writing things down.

The funny thing is that writing things down doesn’t just help as a memory aid. It forces you to be precise. In a conversation you can stay vague — “we need to improve the sales process” sounds like a plan. But write it down and you immediately see the gaps. Which part? By when? “Reduce quote turnaround time from 3 days to 1 day by end of Q2 by automating the approval process.” That is something different from “improve.”

The same goes for scope. “Can we add the customer service module too?” If you have nothing documented, you have no defence. If you do: “That falls outside what we agreed. Sales processes only.” Not an argument — a conversation.

What works for me: end every important conversation with “let me write this up.” Three bullets. What we decided, what happens next, who is responsible for what. The client responds with “yes, exactly” or “small correction…” Either way, you are aligned.

You don’t need to capture everything. No transcripts of meetings. But: decisions and who made them, commitments and deadlines, scope boundaries, changes to previous agreements. “This is what we discussed. Correct me if I have it wrong.”

Most people rely on memory. That works until it doesn’t.