How Small Documentation Habits Unlock Big Wins for Managers

When you think of documentation, what comes to mind? If it’s endless policies, folders filled with old SOPs, or forms that no one reads, you’re not alone. But Adrienne Bellehumeur, author of The 24-Hour Rule and Other Secrets for Smarter Organizations, wants you to think differently.

Adrienne challenges the way we approach documentation. She offers practical, approachable ways that managers can improve productivity and reduce wasted time, not with complicated systems, but with simple, consistent habits.

Big D vs Little d Documentation

Adrienne introduces the idea of “Big D” and “Little D” documentation. Big D includes formal systems like enterprise platforms, SOPs, compliance policies, and official reports. These structures are important, but they’re not where most of us operate daily.

Little d documentation, on the other hand, is everything informal and often overlooked—your meeting notes, to-do lists, chat summaries, quick email recaps, or sticky notes on your desk. For managers, this is where most documentation happens.

The problem is that organizations invest heavily in Big D tools but don’t support the small, everyday habits that make those tools effective. And without consistent little d practices, all the software in the world won’t help.

Focus on the Small Stuff

As a manager, you are the connection point between information and action. Every day, you’re in meetings, making decisions, assigning tasks, and giving updates. If this information doesn’t get captured and shared, it’s easy for things to get missed, repeated, or delayed.

Adrienne explains that most of the productivity breakdowns she sees in teams happen because of missing or unprocessed information. Someone didn’t write down the next step. A decision wasn’t documented. A great idea was shared and then forgotten.

That’s why consistent, small documentation habits matter so much. When you start capturing and organizing your thoughts, notes, and actions, you prevent information loss and reduce unnecessary repetition.

The 24-Hour Rule

At the heart of Adrienne’s approach is the 24-hour Rule. This simple principle encourages you to process and document information within 24 to 48 hours of receiving it. That might mean writing a few notes after a meeting, sending a follow-up email, or updating your project tracker.

Why this timeframe? Because our brains are wired to retain and synthesize information best shortly after we receive it. If we wait too long, we lose clarity and momentum. Adrienne says even taking three to five minutes to write a brief recap after a conversation can have a big impact.

This small act reinforces key takeaways and helps teams build forward motion. Decisions are easier to recall. Tasks are more likely to get done. And people don’t need to ask, “Wait, did we talk about that already?”

The Cost of Not Documenting

The unfortunate outcome of skipping the documentation step is that the same conversations happen again and again. Adrienne calls this the “Groundhog Day” problem.

Meetings are held, and discussions happen, but without a clear written summary or follow-up, nothing sticks. So the next meeting covers the same territory, and the team loses time and energy.

It’s not that people are forgetful or lazy. It’s that there’s no shared memory. When information lives only in people’s heads or in scattered tools, it becomes unreliable. Often, until it’s written down for future reference, people assume the issue is still up for debate. Clear, timely documentation makes it easier to track progress and make decisions based on facts rather than fuzzy memories.

AI Can Be Part of the Solution

With the rise of AI-powered tools that record and summarize meetings, it’s tempting to think we can automate documentation. But Adrienne offers a caution.

AI is a helpful assistant, but it can’t think for you. It can’t tell you which idea matters most or who really needs to follow up. It can give you a transcript, but it can’t synthesize meaning reliably (yet).

Reflection is still essential. You need to interpret, prioritize, and decide what needs action. That’s something only people can do, especially managers, who are responsible for translating conversations into decisions and decisions into results.

Keep Taking Handwritten Notes

Given the use of AI and how much of our work lives in the digital world, it’s easy to dismiss handwritten notes. But Adrienne still swears by them, and research backs her up. Writing things down by hand has been shown to improve memory and focus. It slows you down just enough to think more clearly.

Of course, handwritten notes shouldn’t be the final stop. It’s important to review them and transfer key takeaways to a place where they can be shared or acted on. This could be a project board, a shared doc, or your team’s task system.

Paper is great for processing ideas, but those ideas still need to make it into your workflow. Adrienne recommends ending each day with a quick review of your notes. What decisions were made? What next steps need to be assigned? What information should be shared or recorded somewhere else? Then input this information into its proper digital home.

When you make this part of your daily routine, it becomes easier to stay organized, reduce confusion, and prevent ideas from getting lost. Over time, these habits create a more agile, reliable, and productive team environment.

Good Documentation Habits Is Good Leadership

At its core, documentation is more than a productivity practice. It's a form of leadership. Leaders bring clarity, help people focus, and guide teams toward results. Good documentation supports all of that.

You don’t need to be perfect. Simply show up every day with a little discipline, a little curiosity, and a willingness to capture and share what matters.

As Adrienne puts it, the tools are helpful, but it’s your habits that really make the difference.

Listen to the entire episode HERE to learn more about the benefits of documentation habits.

Keep up with Adrienne Bellehumeur

• Follow Adrienne on LinkedIn here

• Get a copy of her book here

• Check out Risk Oversight here for more information

• Visit Adrienne’s official website here to keep up with her work

FREE 6 Steps of Dynamic Documentation + Productivity as a Team Sport Workbook

Adrienne is giving members of Podcast+ 2 incredible PDFs. 

First, the 6 Steps of Dynamic Documentation. Whatever your current go-to practices for personal productivity, information management, and documentation look like, these 6 steps will give you simple strategies to work smarter, faster, and better—for yourself, your team, and your whole organization.

And second, Productivity as a Team Sport Workbook. This workbook shares the 8 Super Secrets of Team Productivity that have been tested with organizations and professional groups across industries. The focus? Real, lasting results for knowledge workers that teams can apply immediately.

To get this bonus and many other member benefits, become a member of The Modern Manager Podcast+ Community.

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The Modern Manager is a leadership podcast for rockstar managers who want to create a working environment where people thrive and great work gets done.

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