What is still unfinished?
Check the AI summary before the next shift

Consider this proposed office scenario, not a customer account. An earlier note says a supplier document is awaited. A later message says the document arrived, but an internal clarification is still needed. The draft says only that the supplier documentation was received. That sentence may be accurate while leaving the next coordinator without the question that still needs attention. Ask the outgoing coordinator to put the existing open-work note beside the relevant messages and updates they are authorized to use. Identify which material the draft covers and whether anything arrived afterwards. Preserve the originals. If a relevant update is unavailable, record the gap rather than assuming the earlier position still holds.

A general recap answers “What happened?” A carry-forward note answers “What remains for the next person?” Those are different purposes. QMSum studied summaries tailored to a reader's question and connected those questions with relevant passages in meeting transcripts. It supports taking the reader's purpose seriously, not assuming one short recap covers every need. For this handover, we propose asking specifically about already-open administrative work. This does not decide whether a discussion created a new commitment. It also does not establish whether an automated job finished.

Read from the original open items into the draft first. Does each item remain visible, or is there supporting information explaining why its status changed? Silence in a later message is not, by itself, evidence that earlier work is complete. Where a task has several parts, check whether the draft has mistaken one completed part for the whole. Then read back from the draft to its sources. For a phrase such as “ready for follow-up,” ask what still blocks the work and where that information appears. Keep conditions attached: waiting for clarification differs from waiting for a document. If two updates disagree, retain the disagreement for clarification rather than choosing the tidier account. MeetingBank's human assessment found useful strengths in generated summaries, including fluent, coherent writing, while information coverage and factual consistency still needed attention. That is a reason to inspect what survives shortening, not to declare every fluent summary wrong.

A note might name the person who raised a problem, the person waiting for an answer or someone suggested as a contact. None of those descriptions alone establishes who accepted the unfinished task. Ask the outgoing coordinator what the authorized record actually says about responsibility. Preserve a named owner where supported; otherwise write that the owner is unconfirmed. The receiving coordinator can take responsibility for seeking clarification without being described as the person doing the underlying work. Keep those roles separate. If the outgoing coordinator cannot resolve the question before leaving, the carry-forward note should state what needs clarification and who will pursue it next. Neither study evaluated accepted task ownership or the preservation of administrative blockers. QMSum also found differences between meeting domains. Its product-design discussions are not evidence that a summary method works for manufacturing handovers.

We propose a short carry-forward note containing the unfinished item, its present blocker, the recorded owner or ownership question, a reference to the supporting note and the receiving coordinator's next follow-up. This is our review aid, not a procedure tested or required by either paper. In the document scenario, the note could preserve that receipt is recorded but clarification remains outstanding. If the sources do not establish who handles that clarification, say so. The receiving coordinator should record whom they will ask and any follow-up time actually agreed, rather than inventing an assignment or deadline. Before relying on the draft, the outgoing and receiving coordinators should compare it with the identified notes and updates and retain unresolved questions together with their references. Record what they reviewed and what they could not check. If they cannot compare the material together, keep that review pending and identify who will arrange it. A polished note is not proof that every task was found, someone accepted responsibility or the handover is complete.