Add a "Last Action" text field
I used a the contact manager software ACT years ago and it had a text field named "Last Action" with a timestamp I found this very useful as it provided a short description of the last action that was taken on this particular contact. One could then create a view with the last action and timestamp for a task. This is a great high level overview of where you left off on a task without going through lengthy notes. for example "05/01/2016 4:15pm - requested status update", or 05/16/2016 08:00a - Hardware arrived and will be racked by EOW". Your notes can then be used to elaborate if needed"