Law Firm 4.0 Blog

The best description of "strategy" I've read in years

I am having lunch today with the "3 Geeks and a Law Blog" trio - Lisa Salazar, Toby Brown and Greg Lambert.  To prep, I am climbing into their award-winning blog of the same name and came across this description in a post by Greg.

He's talking about another blogger at his firm, King & Spalding, Richard C. Hsu, who writes his own blog, "The One Page Blog."

As the set up to this great strategy description by Hsu, Lambert writes this:

Richard discusses his thoughts behind why he is blogging in the section of his blog titled "Lawyer's Confessions" where he admits that, although he is a super techie (CalTech grad and experienced programmer), he has found himself somehow "out of touch" with the new generation's mode of communications. He reminds us that, despite our experiences, there seems to always come a day when someone younger comes in and makes us understand that in order to "get with it" we'll need to climb outside our own comfort zones. For Hsu, that meant playing to the strengths that comes with age/experience, and that is understanding strategy.  He says it best in his explanation of technology and technology strategy:

And here is what Hsu writes:

On the other hand, technology strategy is not technology.  It is strategy.  And strategy’s half-life is more like plutonium:  what worked a thousand years ago works today, and will work in a thousand years....  Invest in understanding strategy now, and you will understand it just as well — probably even better [in the future.]

It's true!  Law firms too often assume strategy discussions (and strategic planning) are a necessary evil, led by expensive consultants who leave you with nothing more than a weighty document that isn't actionable. 

And strategy is almost non-existent in most major tech project implementations in law firms - from websites to proposal centers, experience databases, mobile apps, client extranets, intranets, CRM, KM and more.  Every technology initiative in your law firm should have a clear strategy component.  It's the strategy that will drive goals, objectives and measurements of success.

True, some consultants do leave you with fat stacks of paper. But if firms viewed strategy as a combination of vision, ideas and business transparency - and then took fear out of it, these planning sessions would be infused with hope and life. And your tech project implementation would be successful, and your internal and external teams accountable for meeting your stated goals.

And, like Hsu says, strategy has a shelf-life like plutonium - or the last Twinkie you ingested.

 

 

 

 

 

Two more law firm intranet best practices - integration and governance

Conducting audits of several SharePoint intranets inspired me to design a list of much-needed intranet best practices for law firms, about which I blogged here.  Now, being in the pre-design strategy and planning phases of two large firm intranets, I realize that I stopped short at 7.  Two more best practices have surfaced (suggested by clients and CGS, a technology company) that are equally critical to usability and long-term success.  

Intranet best practice #8 is integration.  Law firms have numerous systems and databases that lawyers access on a daily basis.  Give users a single point of entry to their workplace tools and programs. Use dashboards for their: personal billing statistics (YTD productivity data - aging A/R, realization, originations if tracked, how lawyers are tracking against their monthly goals); and documents (recently edited, recently opened).  Integrate your website, experience database, CRM and other content-rich tools.  This is not a focus on technology - rather, it's focusing on how lawyers work.

Integration must be mapped and planned so usability isn't sacrificed either at launch or as your intranet grows.

Intranet best practice #9 is governance. Every intranet should have a content/design governance structure and plan.  Without discipline and guidelines, the intranet can quickly become amoebic, growing into an unrecognizable mass (or mess) without structure and form.  Invariably, a person will need to be the arbiter of disagreements about content and design.  Here is a good governance structure:  users >> content contributors >> content managers >> governing board.  The contributors, managers and board should meet before launch to establish the governance and vibrancy plan, then quarterly to ensure that the intranet's integrity is preserved.

A final note about content governance.  I received advice years ago about buying clothes and adding to my closet. I often don't embrace this good counsel, but I still believe in its efficacy.  Don't add one new thing to my wardrobe unless I eliminate one thing.  The same goes for content on your intranet.  Content expires (just like the floral dress from two Springs ago), and it drags down the relevancy of the rest of your site if it's left to languish.  The second that lawyers view your intranet as irrelevant, it's over -- it's extraordinarily difficult to regain lawyers' trust that you aren't wasting their time.

Law Firm Intranets - A new look in 2010

I am seeing more interest in their intranets by law firms than I have seen in the last dozen years.  Firm leaders are taking a serious look at ways to improve communication up and down the organization, facilitate collaboration among colleagues and workgroups, reinforce cultural tenets and save money.

A well planned intranet can do all this, but the key is on strategic focus, smart and focused planning, measureable goals, and a perpetual understanding of your user audience. 

After conducting several audits of law firm intranets in the last few weeks, as we did with law firm Web sites in 2005, it was time to introduce certain Foundational Best Practices.  Once again, as with Web sites, these best practices surfaced after considerable research in the broad Web industry, researching reviews of intranets in Corporate America, how they are used, which ones stand out (as analyzed by Jakob Nielsen - www.alertbox.com) and determining which trends could translate to law firms - especially global and multi-office firms. 

In future posts, I'll expand on each of these, but here is the resulting list of 7 Best Practices in Law Firm Intranets for 2010:

1.  Intranet home page -- this is about information hierarchy and messaging.  It must be attractive, well organized and deliver a lot of goods right from this page.  This page has to work hard - and look good.

2.  Intranet site search -- focus on speed, refinement and relevant, well organized results.  Focus on "finding" and how many seconds it takes to get the answer you need.

3.  Navigation -- the watchwords here are intuitive, informative (you must preview what's inside each global navigation section -- if users have to guess, you've lost them) and one-click.  I audited one SharePoint intranet and it took 8 clicks to find something the first time and 10 clicks the second time.  Impossible!

4.  Lawyers and professional personnel -- focus on experience (what have they done, for whom have they done it, what were the salient issues by matter, etc.), quick contact info (including whom to call when they aren't available) and currency.  Bios should be up to the minute.

5.  Design and layout -- It's all about consistency, enhancing your brand and making the site inviting.  Ease of adding pages by multiple editors is one of the great benefits of SharePoint, but design stewardship goes out the window.  You lose users when the rigor of design consistency is lost. 

6.  Content -- Rich, organized, relevant content that is easily found will keep your users coming back.  If users aren't using your intranet daily to find information, it is time to rethink and replan your site.

7.  Social networking and interactivity -- this is about communication and building collaboration among workgroups.  Think of it as a "workplace Web."  This should be where individuals gather to chat, exchange information and ideas, and log best practices in Wikis and on blogs.

More to come.