Agile project management for lawyers
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The document discusses adopting agile project management techniques for legal work. It begins by noting high rates of stress and substance abuse among lawyers. It then frames lawyers as builders who can visualize legal work as a production process on a kanban board. Various online kanban tools are presented as ways to experiment with implementing agile methods. Resources for continuing to learn about agile approaches for legal work are provided.
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Agile project management for lawyers
- 1. Agile project management for lawyers October 23, 2017 Washington State Bar Association – Solo & Small Practice Section Greg McLawsen Managing Attorney
- 2. w w w . s o u n d i m i g r a t i o n . c o m Stress in the legal profession. Substance abuse: 36% page 2
- 3. w w w . s o u n d i m i g r a t i o n . c o m Stress in the legal profession. Depression: 28% page 3
- 4. w w w . s o u n d i m i g r a t i o n . c o m
- 5. w w w . s o u n d i m i g r a t i o n . c o m page 5
- 6. Greg McLawsen Nomadic Immigration Lawyer Sound Immigration @mclawsen greg@soundimmigration.com www.soundimmigration.com
- 7. America’s online immigration law firm www.soundimmigration.com
- 8. w w w . s o u n d i m i g r a t i o n . c o m Outline Against efficiency It’s not the goal 01 The lawyer as builder A different framework 02 känbän Visualize your work-in-production 03 Online kanban tools Start experimenting 04 page 8
- 9. Against efficiency The hellish Home Depot vortex
- 10. The sink project
- 11. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m What is the goal? Attorney See my client achieve her goal and be fairly paid for my work Client Close the deal on my property page 11
- 12. The lawyer as builder We manufacture legal products, and that’s a good thing
- 13. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m The lawyer as builder Historically we have been artisans, crafts(wo)men. page 13
- 14. We are builders Think of legal products instead of legal services. What can we deliver?
- 15. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m The lawyer as builder
- 16. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m The lawyer as builder #NotAJoke page 16
- 17. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m The lawyer as builder page 17 Packing station Love note station Handcuff station
- 18. The Bottleneck • Card station is the bottleneck • Bottleneck = system constraint
- 19. How do we improve? • Subordinate to the constraint • Elevate the constraint
- 20. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m The lawyer as builder page 20 Associate Paralegal Partner
- 21. känbän The free technology you never knew your firm needed
- 23. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m känbän page 23 How to kanban
- 24. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m känbän page 24
- 25. What’s on your plate? What isn’t? To do Doing Waiting Done Client 1 Client 6 Client 8 Client 15 Client 2 Client 7 Client 9 Client 16 Client 3 Client 10 Client 4 Client 11 Client 5 Client 12 Client 13 Client 14
- 26. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m känbän page 26 Waiting on client Waiting on 3rd party To do Doing Done
- 27. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m känbän page 27 Waiting on client Waiting on 3rd party To do Doing Done Client 8 Client 20 Client 1 Client 6 Client 15 Client 9 Client 21 Client 2 Client 7 Client 16 Client 10 Client 3 Client 11 Client 4 Client 12 Client 5 Client 13 Client 14
- 28. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m känbän page 28 Prospects Waiting on client Waiting on 3rd party Doing Delegated to legal process outsourcing team Filed Holding pattern Done Example Kanban columns at Sound Immigration
- 29. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m känbän page 29 Sample Property Purchase/Sale Kanban Client questionnaire Paralegal draft Senior attorney review Property inspection Appraisal Waiting on other party
- 30. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m Transcend Legal – Noah Lewis page 30
- 31. Litigation is tricky 1. What’s the next action? 2. Where is the case in its lifecycle? To do Doing Waiting Done Client 1 Client 6 Client 8 Client 15 Client 2 Client 7 Client 9 Client 16 Client 3 Client 10 Client 4 Client 11 Client 5 Client 12 Client 13 Client 14 Investigation Discovery Motion Practice Trial prep Client 1 Client 6 Client 8 Client 15 Client 2 Client 7 Client 9 Client 16 Client 3 Client 10 Client 4 Client 11 Client 5 Client 12 Client 13 Client 14 1 2
- 32. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m känbän page 32 One litigation solution: add a dimension Investigation Discovery Motion Practice Trial prep Partner Associate Paralegal Waiting on client Waiting on opposing party Waiting on third party Waiting on court Opposition has provided discovery, now ball moves to partner to set motion practice strategy Where’s the next action? Where is the case in its lifecycle?
- 33. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m Palace Law – litigation progression page 33
- 34. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m Palace Law – daily workflow page 34
- 35. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m känbän page 35 Not “just” for case work
- 36. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m känbän page 36 Managing new client onboarding (sales)
- 38. “Start with this” John Grant @JEGrant3
- 39. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m Mike Polk (www.belserpa.com) page 39
- 40. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m Online kanban tools page 40 Trello
- 41. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m Online kanban tools page 41 Trim, intuitive interface
- 42. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m Online kanban tools page 42 Checklist Comments/ case notes
- 43. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m Online kanban tools page 43 LeanKit
- 44. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m Online kanban tools page 44 Favorite feature: board within board
- 45. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m Online kanban tools page 45 Odoo ERP + CRM ecosystem @axon_partners
- 46. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m Online kanban tools page 46 Lawcus
- 47. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m Online kanban tools page 47 Lexicata
- 48. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m Online Kanban tools page 48 LPM build around kanban
- 49. w w w . s o u n d i m m i g r a t i o n . c o m AgileAttorney Slack Group agileattorney.com/join-the-agile- attorneys-slack-group/ Materials from this talk soundimmigration.com/agile The Goal Eliyahu Goldratt (Painful but helpful read) Resources JohnGrant agileattorney.com / @JEGrant3 Font of all things Agile-Law Lawyerist podcast John Grant, again http://bit.ly/1NCXd7d The Lean Startup Eric Ries Business as experiment page 49
- 50. Thank you Greg McLawsen Managing Attorney Sound Immigration @mclawsen 253-203-3170 greg@soundimmigration.com www.soundimmigration.com
Hinweis der Redaktion
- Vs 15% for doctors
- Vs 15% for doctors
- We focus in an era when lawyers are facing unprecedent challenges to maintaining profitable practices. Lawyers are asked to do more with less, to frim costs. The buzz word of the day is efficiency, efficiency, efficiency. Now there’s nothing wrong with efficiency. But when it comes to project management, we need to make sure we’re not losing track of the true purpose of our work. That purpose is to get a specific thing done; to accomplish a goal. Whether it’s planning an estate or resolving a property dispute. Let me illustrate with an example.
- In this environment, perhaps more than ever, lawyers owe it to themselves to focus on the things that matter in life, and that matter in their law practices. Today we’ll be talking about a simple system for decluttering the management of a legal case load. This system – known as Kanban – is free and easy to implement, and gives you a focused, visual representation of the tasks that you need to focus on, and those you don’t.
- Both client and attorney want to see case successfully closed out. Karol needs paper to print contract but it’s inefficient to drive to store, will wait until paralegal is available next week. End of month, can’t get paid rest of fee because case isn’t closed. Doesn’t matter if paper will be efficiently obtained sometime; that paper became blocking problem that means Karol gets $0 for this case this month.
- Historically we’ve viewed ourselves as artisans. We offer a highly customized, client-tailored service – like a bespoke suit from a tailor. There’s tremendous craft to our profession, and what I’m talking about today has nothing to do with detracting from that view of lawyers. But I want to offer a different and additional framework for viewing how we deliver value to our clients.
- That framework is the paradigm of manufacturing. Or more broadly, it’s the framework of building things. Today we’re going to try looking at what we do as building a product for our clients. We’re going to think about our law firms as manufacturing plants that build legal products. Or – if you prefer – we’ll view our work the way software developers think about completing projects. It turns out that the project management systems used all throughout the tech industry – that we can apply to law – grew out of car manufacturing.
- We start our journey far from the assembly room floor in rural Vermont. That’s where my sister, Kay, works on an organic vegetable farm. They grow cabbages that sell for $20 in New York (no kidding). But in the winter things are slow, so Kay moonlights at various odd jobs. Last year she worked in a manufacturing plant building these:
- The 50 Shades of Grey teddy bear. Better yet, when you order one, you can get a customized love note to accompany. Kay’s job was to hand write these customized notes to be packed with the Teddy.
- Let’s say that the Boss Man has been getting complaints from customers – people say that sexy bears aren’t getting shipped fast enough. How does Boss Man figure out what’s causing the delay? (Walks around factory…)
- In the teddy bear example the hand-writing station is what’s called the bottle neck. If the Boss puts another person on the packing station, what happens? Nothing. Because speeding up the packing station won’t solve anything. It’s not the problem – the hand-writing station is.
- The only way for the boss to speed ship times is to solve for the hand-writing station. The first way he can do that is by subordinating the rest of the factory to the system constraint. Essentially, that existing resources go first and foremost to the hand-writing station. So, for example, if the worker on the hand–writing station takes a break, pull someone off another station to start writing notes. Second, if this doesn’t work, you may have to pull in additional resources to elevate the constraint. If speed isn’t increased by filling in slack time on the hand-writing station, you might need to hire an additional worker for that station, or but a faster pen.
- Now what does any of this have to do with the practice of law? Remember that clients are paying us not for our time, but to get something done for them. To ship a legal services deliverable, whether it’s a contract or resolution of a litigation dispute. Well, let’s say a corporate client calls its firm and asks why contracts are taking so long to turn around? The managing partners storms out of her office and starts marching around the firm… Now here’s the fundamental problem. Unless you’ve implemented an intentional system, there’s no reliable way to see where work is piling up. This goes double for the digital era where there are no piles of paperwork. The good news is that there is an intuitive, easy system the you can implement, and it’s called Kanban.
- Think of Kanban as a visual management tool for controlling all of your work in progress.
- At it’s simplest, a Kanban board consists of three columns. Each work item is represented by a card or sticky note that moves from left to right across the board. The first distinction that a Kanban forces you to make is between items that you need to do sometime – that’s the “to do” column – and the one that you are currently committed to be actually working on – the doing column. An undifferentiated task list can feel crushing and overwhelming, because it feels like there are a zillion things that require your attention. A Kanban board forces the user to say: okay, there’s a lot to do, but here’s what I’m focused on and committed to right now.
- As we all know, many lawyers feel constantly mired in stress. I want to suggest that part of this reason for this is that we don’t have a clear since of when we actually need to take action on a client matter, and when we don’t.
- Hence, the all important “waiting” column that you will see on virtually every Kanban board. For virtually any type of legal work, there will be stages in the workflow when you are waiting on your client to get you some documents, or waiting on a property appraisal, etc. When that happens, the Kanban card goes into the waiting column, and a weight is lifted from your shoulders. Yes, the case is still active, but all of the cards in the waiting column represent mental energy you don’t need to invest in angst over those matters. Sure, you’ll need a system to check in to ensure the client is actually getting back to you, etc., but the case isn’t waiting for your time and attention.
- When we first implemented Kanban at our firm years ago, I had a sense that client matters weren’t shipping as fast as I would like. Clients weren’t complaining, I just though we could be delivering results faster than we were. So we created a giant Kanban board, literally on the wall of our office. We used one stick note for each client matter, and organized them into these columns. Here’s roughly what the distribution looked like.
- Now tell me, where’s the bottleneck in this system? It’s the clients. So I could rush into work early, or put pressure on the paralegal, but none of that is going to clear out our work backlog, because we’re not the system constraint – the clients are. Now this is neither a good nor a bad thing. It’s simply that if we want to speed the cycle time for a case at our firm, we have to find a way to speed turn-around from our clients.
- Here’s roughly what our current Kanban board looks like.
- It’s relatively easy to think about how to adapt a Kanban board for different practice areas. You simply have to think critically about each of the work stages that a case goes through in its cycle. Who owns all of the plates that the case lands on before it’s done?
- Here’s an example from an attorney who does name changes for post-transition transgendered clients. Like my firm’s board, this tracks the case from beginning to end.
- In transactional work tracking “what next” and “who is responsible for the next action item” are the same questions. In litigation, not so. Within a particular stage of the case life-cycle, the ball may pass to associate, paralegal, attorney, opposing party, judge, etc.
- Pat Palaces office uses Kanban for all sorts of projects. Here, they keep track of the litigation life cycle of cases on one board.
- Any they use a different board to – this one is for an associate – to track daily work flow.
- John Grant, an attorney based in Portland, is basically the guru on all things Kanban related in legal. He strongly recommends starting with a physical board on an office wall, using painters tape and sticky notes. In addition to the fact that this is a virtually free way to get your feet wet with Kanban, I agree with John that there’s something very helpful about the tactile experience of engaging with a physical board.
- Here’s an example of a Kanban board you could create in probably a few hours.
- If you do move into the world of virtual Kanban board, Trello is most folks’ first stop. It’s what we use for most of the boards at our firm, with the exception of sales.
- Far more feature-rich, also more confusing
- Still pretty buggy. Some CRM capability and integrates with Clio.
- Far more feature-rich, also more confusing