Before the next client call: find the promises you still owe

Your next client call is approaching, and you can't remember whether you promised an estimate, an answer, or a finished draft. If you recorded the earlier calls in Rebrief for Mac, use Ask to find those commitments and open the passages behind them. Check what you actually delivered, then use the remaining questions and updates to prepare your agenda.

Ask what you promised this client

Start with the client and project you need to discuss. In Ask, try: “What did I commit to doing for [client] on [project] in our recent calls? Include the deadlines, conditions, and source passages.” Naming the project helps you check that the answer concerns the right work.

Ask searches your recorded meetings and shows the lines used for its answer. Click a passage to open that meeting at the relevant moment. Read enough of the surrounding discussion to see who accepted the task and whether the promise depended on something else happening first.

If the answer overlooks a call you remember, follow up with its date or the deliverable: “What about the revised estimate we discussed last week?” You can also open that meeting and read its action items and transcript. Treat the answer as a starting list to check; it may miss a promise or misunderstand the wording.

Write down the promised output, owner, and deadline together. Keep any condition attached: “send the draft after approval” is different from “send the draft on Friday.” If a later conversation changes the agreement, check that passage too. A date you propose privately for the next call does not replace a deadline the client already accepted.

When there is no recording of a relevant call, use the notes or follow-up message you kept. Rebrief can retrieve the conversations in its recorded history; a missing call leaves a gap you need to resolve elsewhere.

Check whether the work was actually delivered

Once Rebrief has helped you recover the promise, check the place where you did the work. Open the sent estimate, inspect the completed review, or ask the colleague responsible for delivery. A transcript records what people said; it cannot establish that you sent a file afterward.

Keep “sent,” “received,” and “approved” separate. An email with the attachment supports “sent.” If you need the client's approval to proceed, look for that response before treating the next stage as ready. When you cannot establish the status, put the missing check on your preparation sheet instead of marking the task overdue.

This short example and its preparation sheet are illustrative, not app output. Suppose the source passage says: “I'll send the revised estimate on Friday and check whether weekend delivery costs extra before our next call.” You find the estimate in Friday's sent email and confirm that you have not yet checked the delivery charge. The estimate needs a feedback question; the charge question still needs your work.

The same distinction matters when nothing was mentioned in the latest call. Silence does not establish that a task is still open. Use Ask to recover the wording, then confirm the status against the work before deciding what you owe.

Make the agenda from what needs attention

Give each checked commitment a purpose in the next conversation. A delivered estimate may need feedback. An unanswered question needs your answer or an honest update about what remains unresolved. A completed item with no follow-up can stay in your private notes.

In the example, checking the delivery charge belongs before the call. If you still cannot establish it, explain the missing information and agree a follow-up date with the client. Do not present an unchecked assumption as the answer just because it appeared in a summary.

Keep the resulting sheet beside the call, with the source meeting and relevant email available when you need them:

Purpose: Agree the next step after the revised estimate.

Before joining
- Check whether weekend delivery adds a charge.
- Open Friday's estimate email and the source meeting.

Already checked
- Revised estimate sent on Friday.
- Client approval not yet established.
- Delivery-charge question still unchecked.

Agenda
1. Confirm receipt of the estimate and ask what needs clarification.
2. Give the checked delivery-charge answer, or explain what remains
   unknown and agree when to follow up.
3. Agree whether to proceed and who owns the next action.

You can copy Rebrief's meeting notes as Markdown into your normal working document, then add the delivery checks yourself. Its support page explains how to copy the notes. Use this shorter template for the next client:

Client and project:
Next call and purpose:

Promise, owner, deadline or condition:
Source meeting and passage:
Delivery status and supporting record:
Check needed before joining:
Question, update, or decision for the agenda:

Leave the next call with a record you can return to

During the conversation, confirm who will do each follow-up and when. With permission to record and the client's rules followed, Rebrief can keep the spoken record for your next preparation session. Transcription and notes run after recording, so review the resulting action items once processing has finished.

If you're setting up Rebrief for future calls, it requires Apple Silicon and macOS 15 or later. Free recordings stop at 15 minutes; a longer call needs the one-time paid unlock. Check setup and recording limits before using it for a full client meeting.

For the call coming up now, open Ask and find the promise you're least certain about. Check its source and delivery status, then write the specific update you'll bring to the client.