The Case for Project Management

This is not an easy transition. Not only is efficiency never rewarded in the traditional model, but efficiency's opposite, billable hours, are. Taking time to plan and coordinate is inconsistent with the billable hour model, and the ROI on that process comes over time rather than creating immediate profits. In order to incorporate and encourage buy-in, project management requires a move toward profitable projects and satisfied clients.

The expectations of today's clients cannot be met by the trappings of traditional law practices. Think about how your clients would react if you reviewed the documentation, created a workflow analysis of the necessary and alternative actions, possible outcomes, and a budget for each scenario. Then you met with your client to review the plan, define your goals, choose performance pathways and determine the value of your services. Suddenly, the entire nature of the attorney/client relationship changes. This is the way clients now expect and demand that their lawyers engage with them, and using project management is a perfect way to support the process.

Project Management Structure

Contrary to popular opinion, project management is a very simple concept based on common sense. It is the systemization of a process, and people do it instinctually all the time. But when projects require the coordination of work in a group environment, the system needs to be documented for buy-in by all participants.

Developed by the IT world and adopted by the business community, project management creates a workflow blueprint that prioritizes designs and coordinates a detailed plan to reach the project's goal efficiently, on schedule and on budget. It is easily transposed as a legal management tool by turning “projects” into “matters.”

The classic elements of legal project management can be summarized to include:

• Set objectives and define scope of matter;
• Identify and prioritize the specific tasks and action required;
• Create a timeline and schedule of events;
• Track due date and strategic actions;
• Assign tasks to team members and coordinate their actions;
• Plan meetings to monitor progress, and revise plan as necessary; and
• Conduct an after-project review.

In response to the growing acknowledgement that project management principles can support the drive toward client accountability, efficiency and productivity, some cloud-based practice management solutions are integrating these principles into their software design. They are designed to facilitate the move to a process-oriented approach too long shunned by law firms that refused to acknowledge the need to meet client demands and remain profitable in a technology-driven world.

The key elements in these solutions are the ability to communicate among team members and clients, and track specific tasks assigned to users to monitor workflow. The following are three examples of how these solutions enable the integration of project management design into your practice.

Rocket Matter

From a developer's perspective, Rocket Matter is first and foremost a collaborative multi-user project management system. Instead of “projects,” it has “matters,” wherein the user organizes documents, tasks, calendar events, billable time and other information. Tasks can be assigned to matters, and to team members, and can be tracked to monitor workflow.

The task tracking feature enables the user to manage the matter by delegating tasks, and viewing what tasks have been accomplished and by whom. They can be viewed either by matter or by user. You can see all of the tasks for the matter across all of the users assigned to them. If you want to see all of the tasks you've delegated out to a specific user, or which tasks have been assigned to you, you can do that via the user task perspective.

Task deadlines provide for a level of accountability and transparency that can quickly tell you who's delivering on their work (and who's not). When tasks are billed, they show up on billing reports, so you can see those users who have completed the most tasks. Deadlines cause tasks to show up red, yellow or white depending on the proximity to the target date.

Access to specific matters is restricted to given users to preserve confidentiality. Matter-by-matter permissions are key for a proper legal project management system, since not all eyes should be seeing all matters in a system.

Tags, or small descriptive words, also help lawyers manage their projects. Tasks can be tagged with keywords, so you can filter what you have to do not just by matter, but also by categories such as jurisdiction or nature of the task.

MyCase

Calling itself “social practice management,” MyCase takes a unique approach to design that accentuates communication by adding the ability to easily create matter-related groups comprised of attorneys, clients, necessary staff and any others involved in the case (e.g., expert witnesses). The platform enables anyone in the group to quickly communicate each and every action in the case to other applicable group members quickly. This information is displayed in a “recent activity,” or continuous comment screen that sits on the home page, making it easy to keep track of updates and developments as you manage cases from start to finish. Put simply, the design is optimized for interaction, collaboration and accountability; key elements of project management systems.

MyCase includes the ability to create and assign tasks to members of your firm and then monitor their progress so that you can ensure that assigned tasks are completed in a timely manner. The recently updated calendaring system also facilitates project management by allowing users to create and event, share it with selected group members, and designate which firm members must attend the event.

MyCase also facilitates secure communication and collaboration with your clients 24/7 by including a client portal in its design. Through this portal, you can share calendars, documents, discussions and billing details at any time, without the same security concerns connected with open Web-based communication.

Clio

Clio begins your day with “At-a Glance,” a homepage dashboard that provides a centralized view of your upcoming tasks and schedule so you know at the outset what your commitments are for the day.

It, too, employs the “Matters” organizational design, with a task management system in which you can easily link tasks to matters, assign tasks to other members of your firm, and monitor the progress of task completion for a specific matter. You can view all tasks across all matters, or drill-down to the tasks only relating to a specific matter. Tasks can be filtered by both due date and matter, thereby facilitating the “Daily Review” and “Weekly Review” as advocated by productivity consultant David Allen in his book, Getting Things Done (http://amzn.to/UP8N1Y). Within each Matter you can also include documents, calendar events and other case-specific information.

The primary organizational design allows you to easily identify any open loops within various matters ' to keep anything from falling through the cracks. You can also input specific incoming tasks or events into “Inboxes,” assign them to the correct matter, and communicate or assign them to chosen firm members or clients when you have more time.

Clio enables you to receive automatic notifications when a staff member adds an event to your calendar, share events with firm members and clients, and set reminders to meetings, court appearances or deadlines. In addition to its own client portal for secure client communication, it has extended functionality by integrating a variety of e-mail applications: Dropbox, Google Apps, Outlook, and most recently, Google Drive.

Conclusion

As we march forward into the world of efficiency and cost containment, using legal project management systems is becoming more of a necessity than a choice. Evidence of the system's popularity is seen in increasing development and upgrading of law practice management systems to include elements of project management practices. As speed, quality and cost pressures mount, practicing law with an internal workflow system can only enhance your opportunities to meet these challenges and accelerate your success.

I love project management. In a world full of chaos and seemingly random events, it enables you to wrap your obligations in a structure that makes sense, reduces stress and saves time. I carefully input all my projects, associated tasks, timelines, contacts, documents and notes into my project management app (nozbe.com), always open at the left side of my browser. Everything is categorized, labeled and prioritized.

But that's just the personal organization side of project management. Its real power comes when you use it in a team environment to plan your project, estimate costs, communicate, monitor workflow, execute tasks and review results. The ability to immediately connect with other team members and assess progress throughout the project's lifecycle enables you to track daily activity and spend, and evaluate and reassess your original plan if necessary. It is the monitoring system that keeps all the pieces of the project moving in the right direction, reducing wasted time and staying within budget.

Unfortunately, efficiency has never been what practicing law was all about. Researching, pondering and brainstorming in a collegial environment was more the idea. Unfortunately, that is no longer a viable model in this new world of legal services delivery. Systematizing the process into a disciplined, procedural approach may offend the professorial, intellectual members of our profession, but without it, they will find themselves articulating to an empty room.

This is not an easy transition. Not only is efficiency never rewarded in the traditional model, but efficiency's opposite, billable hours, are. Taking time to plan and coordinate is inconsistent with the billable hour model, and the ROI on that process comes over time rather than creating immediate profits. In order to incorporate and encourage buy-in, project management requires a move toward profitable projects and satisfied clients.

The expectations of today's clients cannot be met by the trappings of traditional law practices. Think about how your clients would react if you reviewed the documentation, created a workflow analysis of the necessary and alternative actions, possible outcomes, and a budget for each scenario. Then you met with your client to review the plan, define your goals, choose performance pathways and determine the value of your services. Suddenly, the entire nature of the attorney/client relationship changes. This is the way clients now expect and demand that their lawyers engage with them, and using project management is a perfect way to support the process.

Project Management Structure

Contrary to popular opinion, project management is a very simple concept based on common sense. It is the systemization of a process, and people do it instinctually all the time. But when projects require the coordination of work in a group environment, the system needs to be documented for buy-in by all participants.

Developed by the IT world and adopted by the business community, project management creates a workflow blueprint that prioritizes designs and coordinates a detailed plan to reach the project's goal efficiently, on schedule and on budget. It is easily transposed as a legal management tool by turning “projects” into “matters.”

The classic elements of legal project management can be summarized to include:

• Set objectives and define scope of matter;
• Identify and prioritize the specific tasks and action required;
• Create a timeline and schedule of events;
• Track due date and strategic actions;
• Assign tasks to team members and coordinate their actions;
• Plan meetings to monitor progress, and revise plan as necessary; and
• Conduct an after-project review.

In response to the growing acknowledgement that project management principles can support the drive toward client accountability, efficiency and productivity, some cloud-based practice management solutions are integrating these principles into their software design. They are designed to facilitate the move to a process-oriented approach too long shunned by law firms that refused to acknowledge the need to meet client demands and remain profitable in a technology-driven world.

The key elements in these solutions are the ability to communicate among team members and clients, and track specific tasks assigned to users to monitor workflow. The following are three examples of how these solutions enable the integration of project management design into your practice.

Rocket Matter

From a developer's perspective, Rocket Matter is first and foremost a collaborative multi-user project management system. Instead of “projects,” it has “matters,” wherein the user organizes documents, tasks, calendar events, billable time and other information. Tasks can be assigned to matters, and to team members, and can be tracked to monitor workflow.

The task tracking feature enables the user to manage the matter by delegating tasks, and viewing what tasks have been accomplished and by whom. They can be viewed either by matter or by user. You can see all of the tasks for the matter across all of the users assigned to them. If you want to see all of the tasks you've delegated out to a specific user, or which tasks have been assigned to you, you can do that via the user task perspective.

Task deadlines provide for a level of accountability and transparency that can quickly tell you who's delivering on their work (and who's not). When tasks are billed, they show up on billing reports, so you can see those users who have completed the most tasks. Deadlines cause tasks to show up red, yellow or white depending on the proximity to the target date.

Access to specific matters is restricted to given users to preserve confidentiality. Matter-by-matter permissions are key for a proper legal project management system, since not all eyes should be seeing all matters in a system.

Tags, or small descriptive words, also help lawyers manage their projects. Tasks can be tagged with keywords, so you can filter what you have to do not just by matter, but also by categories such as jurisdiction or nature of the task.

MyCase

Calling itself “social practice management,” MyCase takes a unique approach to design that accentuates communication by adding the ability to easily create matter-related groups comprised of attorneys, clients, necessary staff and any others involved in the case (e.g., expert witnesses). The platform enables anyone in the group to quickly communicate each and every action in the case to other applicable group members quickly. This information is displayed in a “recent activity,” or continuous comment screen that sits on the home page, making it easy to keep track of updates and developments as you manage cases from start to finish. Put simply, the design is optimized for interaction, collaboration and accountability; key elements of project management systems.

MyCase includes the ability to create and assign tasks to members of your firm and then monitor their progress so that you can ensure that assigned tasks are completed in a timely manner. The recently updated calendaring system also facilitates project management by allowing users to create and event, share it with selected group members, and designate which firm members must attend the event.

MyCase also facilitates secure communication and collaboration with your clients 24/7 by including a client portal in its design. Through this portal, you can share calendars, documents, discussions and billing details at any time, without the same security concerns connected with open Web-based communication.

Clio

Clio begins your day with “At-a Glance,” a homepage dashboard that provides a centralized view of your upcoming tasks and schedule so you know at the outset what your commitments are for the day.

It, too, employs the “Matters” organizational design, with a task management system in which you can easily link tasks to matters, assign tasks to other members of your firm, and monitor the progress of task completion for a specific matter. You can view all tasks across all matters, or drill-down to the tasks only relating to a specific matter. Tasks can be filtered by both due date and matter, thereby facilitating the “Daily Review” and “Weekly Review” as advocated by productivity consultant David Allen in his book, Getting Things Done (http://amzn.to/UP8N1Y). Within each Matter you can also include documents, calendar events and other case-specific information.

The primary organizational design allows you to easily identify any open loops within various matters ' to keep anything from falling through the cracks. You can also input specific incoming tasks or events into “Inboxes,” assign them to the correct matter, and communicate or assign them to chosen firm members or clients when you have more time.

Clio enables you to receive automatic notifications when a staff member adds an event to your calendar, share events with firm members and clients, and set reminders to meetings, court appearances or deadlines. In addition to its own client portal for secure client communication, it has extended functionality by integrating a variety of e-mail applications: Dropbox, Google Apps, Outlook, and most recently, Google Drive.

Conclusion

As we march forward into the world of efficiency and cost containment, using legal project management systems is becoming more of a necessity than a choice. Evidence of the system's popularity is seen in increasing development and upgrading of law practice management systems to include elements of project management practices. As speed, quality and cost pressures mount, practicing law with an internal workflow system can only enhance your opportunities to meet these challenges and accelerate your success.