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Book Review–Martin White’s “Enterprise Search”

20 May

1-Search BinocsPost by David Hobbie, ILTA KM Blogmaster and Litigation Knowledge Manager, Goodwin Procter LLP

Long-time digital information management guru a/k/a “information scientist” Martin White has authored a comprehensive guide to enterprise search that lays out search’s business and technical context, and also provides dozens of tips, suggestions, and the location of traps for the unwary, at a surprisingly affordable price (US $19.99 /$20.99 CAN.) I don’t want him to raise the price, but I would have paid the cover price for the insights found in each of the book’s twelve chapters. (“Enterprise Search”, O’Reilly Media, 2013, ISBN 978-1-449-33044-6, 168 pp.). It is targeted at a general corporate / corporate IT audience, and does not specifically address legal industry needs or vendors.

If you read anything in this book, read chapter 12, “Critical Success Factors.” My experience with search implementations and trials suggests that each of the factors is, as they say, “written in blood.”

Mr. White suggests that enterprise search is moving from a “nice-to-have” to a “need-to-have”, not because of the enterprise search industry’s growth, but because of business decision support needs and the increasing demands of expanding volumes of digital information [Ed.--the legal industry has a comparatively high focus on documents and knowledge, and enterprise search is correspondingly more valuable, and, I suspect, more prevalent, here—see for instance the 2010 ILTA KM Survey]. He is not Panglossian about the success of existing implementations, noting that internal clients expect speed and reliability akin to Google, which enterprise search cannot deliver.  Google after  all has invested tens of billions in search and hardware and can leverage hyperlinks and user behavior in a manner not accessible to enterprises.

I really value Mr. White’s focus in much of the book on meeting business needs. He dives into the process of developing user requirements in some depth, addressing a broad range of investigatory techniques to uncover specific information-seeking use cases. Mr. White does not hide his opinion about these techniques; he is skeptical of focus groups, and very fond of individual interviews.

There is much here that is thought-provoking and challenges what may be IT or user orthodoxy. For instance, he does not view successful search as a single all-encompassing application, but as a process that identifies and then meets individuals’ business-related information needs. This idea ties in to the concept of “Search-Based Application” suggested by Sue Feldman and also (more tangentially) by Lynda Moulton. Under this approach, search seeks to address the information needs of a specific business process or scenario, one at a time, rather than implementing one search engine or interface that meets all needs.

A corollary of viewing search as a process is that he suggests staffing a “search support team” in advance of assessing and developing enterprise search, to get the most out of existing search applications and to lay the groundwork for additional search efforts.

Mr. White’s book effectively addresses many aspects of implementing and maintaining an effective search environment, a critical aspect of effective enterprise information management.

Swartworth Leadership Development Seminar: The Judge Advocate General on What Leadership Means To Me

30 Aug

Post By David Hobbie, ILTA KM Blogmaster

Most of the reporting on the ILTA Conference 2012 has been made informally over on my Caselines blog and on Mary Abraham’s Above and Beyond KM blog as well. I thought to report on one session here, for a variety of reasons that will be evident.

Lt. Gen. Dana Chipman, the Judge Advocate General for the U.S. Army, spoke at ILTA on Tuesday August 26th as part of the Sharon Swartworth Leadership Development Seminar. He has a dry but effective speaking style, sprinkling personally relevant stories amongst more general points about leadership and communication.

Today his thoughts are down in Louisiana (his home state) and Hurricane Isaac.

He met Sharon Swartwood in 1991 when she was an administrative warrant officer, a “little ball of fire.” He greatly admired what she did for his office and his office’s systems, and he appreciates ILTA’s continued honoring of her memory.

The success of an organization depends on followers’ perceptions of the moral value of their leaders. Leadership has personal, organizational, and managerial dimensions.

Personal Leadership

How do you convey an organization’s challenges?

They have monthly publications, periodic speaking engagements, senior leader discussions, and other communications fora.

Effective communication begins with effective listening. He does a series of “iterative engagements” with key stakeholders and has a series of conversations. Listening, sleeping on the advice, and listening again will lead to better decisions when they have to be made.

His company commander gave him a practical lesson in communicating when, even after he had thrown a shrimp party for the commander, was called the next morning to attend to a vehicle maintenance task that had not been sufficiently addressed. In other words, Lt. Gen. Chipman’s commander let him know that personal appreciation for the shrimp and the party would not lower the organization’s standards.

Competence means you have studied to develop into a subject matter expert in your field. There should be increasing complexity in what you study as a professional. You have to stay fresh. He finds this particularly hard with respect to technology.

Scott Reid and his team are working to extend concepts, best practices, and tactics that make the JAG Corps more efficient and effective in the delivery of legal services through a JAG Corps enterprise social network (as he discussed at an ILTA panel on Monday, that I also participated in). Lt. Gen. Chipman understands that he has to understand KM in order to supervise those efforts effectively.

Competence involves “sharpening the saw”–staying fit, maintaining balance and family relationships, and the like.

Competence also requires having a personal philosophy of being a lifelong learner. Pass on inspiration you may have received from overcoming adversity to others who are or will be facing adversity.

Competence also requires self-reflection, the ability to laugh at yourself (his nickname is “the laughing general.”)

You can only have followers meet high standards when you set and meet high personal standards for yourself. Personal standards is “doing the right thing when no one is watching.”

There is no level at which “sacrificial leadership” does not apply. We want to maintain professional standards. Ambition is not a bad word. You should want to develop and seek out new challenges and opportunities.

Our current environment is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous (VUCA). To survive we need to be agile.

Toxic leadership is not a popularity issue. A toxic leader will look good to upper leadership but treat peers and subordinates dismally. Toxic leaders can succeed for a long time. It can be effective for a short mission but wears out organizations over the long haul.

Chipman quotes Secretary Panetta– “It is the character and the standards that each of you bring to the battle that makes us strong. We can often be better than our word, but we can never be better than our actions.”

Our own firms have standards. Are they well known? Are they perceived in the marketplace?

As a leader, it can be about wanting to contribute in the way that you do best. Lt. Gen. highlighted George Marshall as someone who could have been Supreme Allied Commander but recognized that his skills would be better used in organizing the U.S. war effort in World War II.

Organizational Leadership

“Mission first, people always.” You need to ensure that your organization is always responsive, effective, and efficient.

Management Leadership

Good management requires having systems to gauge how effective your management is. Address the “task, purpose, [and desired] endstate.”

Managers look to develop their younger staff, grow the next generation.

Lt. Gen. Chipman told a story about a girl cutting her finger in a Disney restaurant or resort. They rushed her to the clinic, and on the way heard her complaining about not being able to finish her dessert and they “made magic happen.” When she got back, six desserts were lined up in her hotel room. Corporate commitment to “make magic” is enabled by management system where every employee will fix problems.

The more you rise, the more you can look externally. His Lieutenant Colonels can manage the JAG Corps, he needs to think about what his organization needs to be in relation to the national security picture and the like.

There is a role for email, and there is a role for personal contact. You have to get face-to-face to be effective in coaching the next generation of leaders.

Vision is about communicating a clear direction based on values. Goals are waystations on the way to achieving a vision.

General Casey would ask at the start of every meeting, “What are we trying to do here, where are we trying to get today?” He was getting at meeting the larger vision of the organization, not getting lost in the short-term goals.

Taking care of people means listening, advising, praising when warranted and correcting when needed.

Feedback to people you are mentoring and coaching is critical for their advancement.

There are so many misread emails. People take offense from emails very easily. Hard discussions should take place face to face.

Loyalty entails debating issues before a decision is made and afterwards executing the decision “as if it were your own.”

Each of us is here because we enjoy a chance to work with others and make a difference in our organizations. Recognize that there is a need for leadership. Informal networks can be just as critical as formal networks and heirarchy. Effective leadership is when you help your network develop the next generation of leaders.

Knowledge Management and the Simple Stick

9 Jun

by Patrick DiDomenico

People who know me well know that I’m a bit obsessed with simplicity, minimalism, and focus.  For a while, those three words were set as my iPhone screen wallpaper, staring me in the face dozens of times a day.  So, when I learned that Ken Segall, who worked with Steve Jobs on several Apple ad campaigns, published a book called Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple’s Success, of course I bought it.

Insanely Simple digs into the world of simplicity at Apple under Steve Jobs.  It also introduces the concept of the Simple Stick.  “The Simple Stick symbolizes a core value within Apple. Sometimes it’s held up as inspiration; other times it’s wielded like a caveman’s club. In all cases, it’s a reminder of what sets Apple apart from other technology companies and what makes Apple stand out in a complicated world: a deep, almost religious belief in the power of Simplicity.”

The Simple Stick is a concept I’ve begun to adopt in my knowledge management work.  I’ve always sought to distill ideas, thoughts, and work product to their essence, making them “as simple as possible, but no simpler.“  But the idea of the Simple Stick gives me a shorthand (simpler!) way to communicate my desire to do so.   It’s a reminder to me (and to those with whom I work) to not give in to the evils of complexity.  This applies in written communications, as well as user interface / user experience design, of intranet sites.  On a review of a prototype intranet page, for example, I’ll say “hit it with the Simple Stick,” meaning: look for ways to make the interface cleaner, or the method of accessing data more direct and uncomplicated.  While some people have a tendency to clutter up a page with superfluous words or features or other unnecessary stuff, my goal is to keep chipping away until what’s left is both necessary and sufficient.  After all, “perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.“

Simplicity in KM is important for many reasons, not the least of which is time (or the lack thereof).  Busy lawyers have precious little time, and the time they have is best spent on revenue-generating work.  Wasting their time with superfluity affects the bottom line.  One of the cornerstones of KM is to increase efficiency.  Complex design, cluttered ideas, and extra stuff gets in the way and slows us down.  Clean, simple design is faster and clearer.  It empowers people.  It allows them to get things done and move on to the next important task.  It reduces frustration and disharmony.

As Segall writes, “Simplicity needs a champion.”  His book provides readers with the anecdotes, ideas, and motivation to promote that cause.

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Technology & Trends In Legal Knowledge Management Webinar

15 May

 Post By ILTA KM Blogmaster David Hobbie

This Thursday, May 17, 12 PM EST, the ILTA KM Peer Group and Thomson Reuters Westlaw are co-sponsoring a webinar with the above title.  It is free but registration with West LegalEd Center is required.

The brief description:

“This program will focus on key developments in KM technology and trends that can help guide your firm’s knowledge management strategy. Whether you are just starting a KM program or you’ve been at it for years, you’ll take away insights into how other thought leaders in the industry have formulated or refreshed their KM strategies to improve efficiency and increase value for clients. Topics include:

  • Best practices from KM thought leaders
  • How to leverage KM with other firm technology investments
  • Knowledge Management and Enterprise Search working together
  • AFAs – and how KM can help make it a profitable offering
  • Set your firm apart – KM for business development and process improvement”

Moderated by Kimberly Stein, Manager of Solutions Software at Thomson Reuters, the panel includes Carol Bannen, Director of Information Resources for Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, Meredith Williams, Baker Donelson’s Chief Knowledge Management Officer (recently co-chair of the ILTA conference), and me, Litigation Knowledge Manager at Goodwin Procter LLP.

We’re looking to have a fairly high-level talk, so we will cover a lot of ground.  See you on-line!

KM Can Assist External Social Media Initiatives

5 Apr

Guest Post by Helena Eldemir, Attorney in Knowledge Management at Littler Mendelson

KM often leads a firm’s initiative to promote the internal use of social media tools by attorneys—a natural fit given KM objectives to facilitate knowledge sharing, collaborate on matters, and identify subject matter expertise. However, when it comes to using social media to reach external audiences—clients, colleagues and thought leaders—KM can find itself sidelined, brought in late in the process, if at all, to develop a policy for regulating attorney behavior on social media platforms. This is a lost opportunity, and can hinder a successful outcome. Being involved at the outset allows KM to influence the overall process, one firmly grounded in principles of collaboration, user adoption and technical compatibility. Below are suggestions for ways in which KM can bring value to an external social media initiative.

Building a cross-departmental team with a shared vision

An external social media initiative will likely involve various facets of firm management. Broadly stated, marketing will bring expertise in branding, reputation building and business development; IT will address security, capacity and burden on systems; firm general counsel will concentrate on risk management, ethical considerations and improper communications; firm Sales & Marketing Executives (SMEs) will outline practice group needs, client perceptions and relationship building; KM will promote best practices in knowledge sharing and leveraging content for target audiences. Each department will have its own priorities, and the social media team will be challenged to reconcile departmental agendas with a shared vision for the initiative.

No stranger to collaboration, KM can help keep the project on track by insisting on a team-defined mission statement. In addition to stating the overarching goal (e.g., leverage social media to increase client awareness of expertise in a specific practice area), an effective statement will spell out narrower objectives that advance the strategy, such as producing related legal content; include a timeline for reaching milestones; and identify factors for measuring success. KM experience in project management and collaboration can provide the group with a process and framework to overcome differences and ultimately deliver results.

Overcoming resistance and misconceptions for better user adoption

KM works closely with attorneys and practice groups, and can voice the unique challenges attorneys face on external social media platforms.  These challenges can be overwhelming and may lead to resistance and misconception about the nature and role of social media in a professional setting. Therefore, it is important to identify attorney concerns, and ensure they are addressed in the overall strategy. Consider the following obstacles to attorney engagement:

  • Is there a lack of attorney knowledge about how external facing social media platforms work and what they are best suited for?
  • How does attorney experience with internal social collaborative tools like blogs, wikis, and enterprise social networks prepare them for external-facing social media activity?
  • What are the perceived risks in stating opinions, responding to posted comments or criticisms, or appearing too casual?
  • Will sharing knowledge provide competitors with an advantage, allowing them to better compete?
  • Is there misunderstanding about the nature of professional versus personal communications on external social media platforms?
  • Will sharing intellectual capital negatively impact business opportunities and actually reduce the likelihood of procuring billable work (i.e., why are we “giving it away?”)?
  • Does making contacts through public social media platforms undermine the firm’s compensation model, where clients are already “taken”?
  • Is time spent on social media platforms a good investment, or will it result in lost productivity (the “waste of time” argument)?

Tackling these issues in advance will help the team formulate an approach to training, as well as the optimal way to roll out the initiative. It may be necessary to create specific guidelines for each platform in order to assuage attorney anxiety. For example, a set of LinkedIn guidelines can address standards for accepting, declining or requesting connections; whether there are prohibitions on soliciting or providing recommendations; what is the appropriate scope of communications; and how to use descriptive words in position titles, summaries and areas of expertise. Making sure that firm attorneys—from summer associates to semi-retired partners—   understand the parameters of professional conduct in a social online setting is a key component in an external social media strategy.

Identifying the appropriate social media platform for the firm’s strategy

Often lost in the process is a discussion about the type of social media platform that will best advance the firm’s strategy. Tapping into experience with internal social media, KM can provide insight into which external platforms are best suited for the firm’s planned use:

  • Blogs are a good vehicle for shared knowledge and expertise, and are a good fit for a strategy focused on promoting firm practice groups
  • Twitter and comparable micro-blogging sites facilitate discovery of shared interests, and is conducive to a strategy that fosters communications around niche areas of laws
  • LinkedIn leverages shared relationships, and can bolster a strategy aimed at  broadening an individual’s reach
  • Wikis are structured for shared information, and could benefit a strategy built on practices that rely heavily on documents, protocols or corporate transactions
  • Facebook is a medium for shared experiences, which may be attractive to a strategy aimed at building a regional presence

KM can shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of each platform, and which is best aligned with the firm’s strategy. Bearing in mind that an external social media strategy may be executed in stages, each platform should be viewed in its context as a short, medium or long term solution.

There are, of course, other ways KM can contribute to developing an external social media strategy. The key is to get involved at the beginning, and help shape the process from the outset. Then, when it comes time to draft a firm social media policy, KM will be in a strong position to support and advance the strategy rather than get in the way–or worse, be left behind.

Session Report–Creating An Optimal KM Value Strategy

30 Aug

Post by David Hobbie, ILTA KM PG

Formal Description:

“A sound KM strategy is essential to success. Whether you are just starting a KM program or you’ve been at it for years, you’ll take away insight into how your colleagues have formulated or refreshed their KM strategies to optimal levels, and what did and didn’t work.”

John Gillies, Director of Practice Support, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP

Sally Gonzalez, Senior Director, HBR Consulting

Steven Lastres, Director of Library & Knowledge Management, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

Facilitator – Patrick DiDomenico, Chief Knowledge Officer, Gibbons P.C.

Introduction

This was the fifth session on the knowledge management track, “KMPG5.” Together with the thorough attached slides, it was an excellent, practical overview of how to develop, obtain support for, communicate, and prioritize your firm’s knowledge management strategy, in other words, how to set up and get beating the heart of your knowledge management activities.   Another key strategy resource, that was repeatedly referenced, is the ILTA KM White Paper article that Ms. Gonzalez and Oz Benamram wrote this year, “Forming a KM Strategy For Your Firm.”

I personally (and publicly!)  resolved to talk more to my partners about the value of KM after this session.

Some highlights have already been covered at Above and Beyond KM.

People

Sally Gonzalez has spent 30 years in law firm technology and knowledge management. She has worked in the UK, Toronto sisters firms, and US firms. (Full disclosure: my firm from time to time employs HBR, including work by Ms. Gonzalez).

John Gillies (occasional author on this blog), has been with Cassels Brock for four years, where he created their knowledge management program.

Steven Lastres, Debevoise & Plimpton, is director of library and knowledge management.  They also handle external content integration into the portal, through Osmosis, Lexis & Westlaw.  Steve is also a leader in encouraging law librarians to view themselves as legal technologists, as by connecting to legal technology organizations such as ILTA.

Why Have A Strategy?

If you don’t have a strategy, like Alice down the rabbit hole you’ll get to where you don’t want to be.

You need to have a very concrete plan of action.

Strategy becomes basis of communication. It helps articulate what knowledge management is. KM is morphing into support for legal project management and process reengineering. Oz Benamram (KM thought leader and CKO at White & Case) feels very strongly that as you strategize, you get an important advantage, building lawyer support and understanding.

Without a good strategy, your only other options are supporting pockets of enthusiasm, or playing “follow the leader” and doing what White & Case or FreshFields is doing.

Pockets of enthusiasm will wear out. If you don’t do your own thinking on strategy, you will end up with a KM program that doesn’t fit the needs of your firm.

Strategy can provide a way to address others’ enthusiastic but ill-advised ideas.

When To Develop A Strategy?

If you don’t have a plan, now is the time.

It will start to age as soon as it is published. It should be “refreshed” as often as yearly, not less than every eighteen months.

How to Develop A Strategy

As noted above, the slides spell out steps in strategy development. The basic framework is the same from firm to firm. The art behind the science is translation of the framework to the specific circumstances of your firm.

Don’t put boundaries on what you want to do. Make strategic goals a stretch target. You can get realistic in the planning process.

You need to start with some dialogue about what knowledge management could be at your firm.

Don’t limit KM at the start of the process. Identify the business drivers and needs coming from lawyers, clients, and administrative departments. What are the problems that need solving? That will limit the areas of activities.

What are our aspirational peers doing in these areas?

It is a circular process. You might come up with lots more ideas than you end up with. There should be lots of strategic interviews. In the handout there are practical examples of what those questions look like.

Steve Lastres did an online poll on what lawyers wanted, in addition to personal interviews.

KM strategy can be a hard topic for for lawyers.  Ask how their  work would be, how would your day be easier, if knowledge management were fully fleshed out. What impediments would it help overcome? How would it make lawyers more productive?  How would it help us beat out the competition? How will it reduce risk? You’ll need their words to justify the strategy.

About a third of “impediment” answers are typically problems for which there is an existing solution. What will fix that is (creative) awareness and training.

KM and professional development are closely intertwined in the UK and Canada.

The time frame of a KM strategy is typically three years. (Ed.—This is twice as long as eighteen months the period during which Tom Kolopolous said the rules change in technology, due to Moore’s Law and its doubling of processor (and other) speeds)—perhaps today’s strategic plans need to be shorter?)

Implementation Plan

A “Programs” structure can organize projects into themes and moves coherently towards goals. Different kinds of projects get executed over three
years.  A consistent, well-thought out implementation plan will keep things moving steadily.

White & Case’s plan has 70 projects under 5 or 6 programs. Programs keep projects organized and readily explainable or justifiable.

Prioritization is a key element of an implementation plan.  It’s how you figure out what is worth doing.

Page 3 of the slides lays out one prioritization method.

Identify the value and the ease of implementation of each project.

Value is assessed through looking at:

  • Support for the firm’s strategies;
  • Meeting clients’ needs;
  • Economic payback /ROI;
  • Desired behavior changes; and,
  • Addressing competitive advantage/remedying disadvantage.

Ease of implementation is assessed through looking at:

  • complexity of work;
  • clarity of requirements;
  • familiarity of technology;
  • behavior changes needed; and,
  • existing acceptance.
The specific substance of the value to the firm assessment comes from the discussions with attorneys.
Map out projects via post-it notes on a grid of charting high/low value and high/low ease of implementation.  Then divide into quadrants, “Field of Gain” (high value, easy to do, these are the “Quick Wins”), “Field of Dreams” (High value, hard to do, these are the long term strategic imperatives.). ”Field of Distraction” (low value, easy to do), “Field of Pain” (low value, hard to do).
Start with field of gain, set for delivery in the first 6 months, set delivery 12-18 months for field of dreams (but start working on them right away).

Do this prioritization at least once a year, during budgeting time.

The same approach as above works with strategy refresh. The interviews and so forth take less time because people know what to expect now.

Lawyers are starting to see more technologies. You now get more “why can’t we do that.”

If you spend more than 30% on technologies, you will fail.

Cost

It can be very useful to have an outside view.   Consultants have seen many other firms’ strategies and can provide valuable assistance.  John Gillies hired Joshua Fireman of ii3.

Consultants can be a guide and help, but if they do it for you the resulting strategy will be a doorstop.

In the absence of a consultant, some good KM articles can also help you get a broader perspective, listed on the last slide (Ed.-I would also recommend ch. 2 in APQC’s “The New Edge In Knowledge”, reviewed earlier on this blog).

Formats

Consider creative formats that make the strategy visually easy to grasp.  Osler developed a useful visual, a pyramid, with a vision (“Easy access to practice tools and resources”) up top; goals in the middle; and key initiatives at the bottom,  with client demands / business drivers coming in from the left.

White & Case used words: “Leverage the firm’s collective knowledge to improve the quality and efficiency of client service”, with a tripartite goal:

  • Connect people to information
  • Connect People to people
  • Improve processes and attorney productivity.
You need to have plans in different levels of detail, that are used for different communication purposes.

Getting Buy-In

All the way through the process you are obtaining buy-in and identifying people who can help sell the strategy. Call on the existing relationships. If your firm has a user group, they can help.

Patrick DiDomenico suggests letting the lawyers speak for the KM person, particularly if it’s the practice group leader.

You have to provide KM committees with the ammunition they need.

Show them what you can do with what you are proposing to do. Show a tangible result, even if it’s just a picture.  How do you get something done?

Communication has to be a concrete piece of every project.  A person has to be presented with a new idea 7 different times.   What are the channels you will use?  Even smart lawyers won’t be offended if you tell them multiple times.

Upcoming Webinar–Social Media and Risk Management

15 Jul

Post By ILTA SC Member Ali Shahidi

The ILTA Knowledge Management and Litigation and Practice Support Peer Groups are presenting a free webinar on Wednesday, July 27, at 12 noon EST / 9 AM PST on Social Media with a Focus on Risk Management. Moderated by Ayelette Robinson (Director of Knowledge Technology and KM Counsel at Littler Mendelson, P.C.), the two speakers are Jack Halprin, Esq. (VP of eDiscovery & Compliance with Autonomy) and Peter Ozolin (CEO and Chairman of the Board of Manzama).

The formal description:

 ”As organizations look to social media to address internal and external business needs, they must walk a fine line between accessibility and governance.

What are the common business needs for using social media?

What is the framework for day-to-day governance, collection and preservation of information shared in these platforms?

And how can organizations weave these competing interests together to reap the benefits of the social media revolution?”

This session will provide some insightful commentary from experienced panelists who are in the “trenches” with this business issue.

Sign-up: Social Media: Addressing Risks and Ensuring Benefits

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Law Firm Blogging – Moving From An Internal to An External Blog

12 Jul

Guest Post By Lesha VanDerBij, Knowledge Management Lawyer at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP

When I first raised the idea of using a blog to track and report legal developments a few years ago, I encountered a great deal of skepticism.  Many of the lawyers viewed blogs as chatty and unprofessional.  And why would they comment on a blog when they could just send an e-mail?

First Step: An Internal Blog

Initially, I had to address the lawyers’ wariness of an unfamiliar technology by developing a better understanding of blogs and the functionality that they offer.  For example, I explained some of the features associated with blogs, including the ability to search by keyword, browse by category and access external resources via links.  Still somewhat sceptical, I got the “green light” to launch a blog for internal use only.

We launched a blog that focused on pensions and benefits law, and shortly thereafter one that focused on labour and employment issues.  Both blogs were used as current awareness tools, containing summaries of and links to cases, legislation, regulatory policies and other legal developments.

The lawyers soon realized the benefits of a blog, as they were able to easily keep up to date on their area of the law, as well as search previous posts for research purposes.  This success, however, comes with a caveat: as the KM lawyer charged with these internal blogs, I am the only one monitoring legal developments and adding posts. While the lawyers sometimes add comments on specific blog posts (e.g., their views on a case or experience with a regulator on a particular issue), they rarely contribute posts to the internal blogs.

Building on Our Experience: An External Blog

Next, I proposed that we launch an external blog, arguing, in part, that the lawyers could build on the work that was already being done through our internal blog.

Even though the lawyers now understood how blogs worked, they continued to doubt that a blog – and the relatively brief posts it required – could be used to effectively communicate legal issues to current and potential clients.  They were also concerned about the potential time commitment, knowing that blogs require regular updates.

I addressed these points by noting that we could continue to draft longer updates when a development warranted more in-depth analysis, and by proposing a group blog with a number of lawyers contributing, such that the “burden” of blogging could be shared among the group. Further, to support the value of an external blog, I presented information on the expected return on investment (ROI) (e.g., business development opportunities and improved SEO rankings).

In October of 2009, we launched our external blog, “Pensions & Benefits Law”, which discusses Canadian and U.S./cross-border pension and benefit legal issues.  As the editor of Pensions & Benefits Law I suggest topics and provide editing suggestions, however, (unlike the internal blog) most of the lawyers in the Osler Pensions & Benefits Department contribute posts (with varying regularity) to the external blog.  Pensions & Benefits Law has largely been successful, finding a regular audience in the pension and benefit industry.

Lessons Learned

  • A group blog still needs one person to “drive the bus” so to speak.  A single person, whether it is a KM lawyer, a practicing lawyer or an administrative person, will have to oversee the blog and ensure that posts are regularly being added.
  • Even after committing to a blog, lawyers may continue to be wary of the technology.  While our lawyers have shown some enthusiasm for drafting blog posts, they continue to be wary of actually posting them on the blog itself and I tend to do most of the “behind the scenes” work.
  • Notwithstanding its apparent success, some lawyers may continue to question the value of a blog. I still regularly review and report on our blog’s Return on Investment (ROI.)

 

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Annual KM Whitepaper Released

21 Jun

Post By David Hobbie, ILTA KM SC

As announced on the ILTA blog, the annual ILTA KM Whitepaper, organized by Chris Boyd of the ILTA KM SC, has been released.  It is available for viewing or download.  The Whitepaper is titled “Knowledge Management:  Conveyors of Organized Information.”

Articles include:

  • 2010 KM Survey Results by Firm Size
  • Forming a KM Strategy For Your Firm, by Oz Benamram of White & Case and Sally Gonzalez of Hildebrandt Baker Robbins
  • How KM Can Set Your Firm Apart, by Meredith Williams of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz
  • The Commodity vs. Premium Work Debate:  Observations on the Transcendent Role of KM, by Scott Rechtschaffen and Ayelette Robinson, both of Littler Mendelsohn
  • An Unconventional Alliance:  Lessons from a Lean Six Sigma Pilot, by Lann Wasson of Husch Blackwell LLP
  • KM Struggles to Survive While Legal Project Management Thrives, by Andrew Terrett of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP

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Bibliography For Legal KM Resources Released

27 May

Post By David Hobbie, ILTA KM SC

Earlier this year, a group of legal knowledge management professionals pulled together a bibliography of resources specific to that field.  It was published April 1, before our launch, and so does not include this estimable blog.

For most people, maybe even people in the field, a bibliography sounds about as exciting as watching paint dry.

But, think about it.  This is not some content-farm, Googlemess of mostly useless links that you might get from searching for “legal knowledge management.”   Some very smart people, including a professional caliber editor / information professional, pulled together the books, blogs, groups, and links that they find most useful to provide context, direction, and strategy for their work.  What a gold mine!

Types of resources covered include:

  1. Books on or Related to KM & The Practice of Law
  2. General Books Related To KM
  3. Periodicals
  4. KM, Law Practice, Law Technology, and Related Blogs
  5. Organizations, Associations, and Meetings (thanks for the ILTA KM PG hat tip, BTW)
  6. Twitter
  7. Selected LinkedIn Groups

This list would be tremendously useful for someone trying to get up to speed-and stay up to speed–on the field.  It is also very useful for someone (like me) who has been doing this for a while and may not appreciate some of the best resources out there.  As I focus on different types of KM practice–such as enabling and supporting communities of practice, or creating a strategy for enhancing collaboration–this resource will help me quickly locate what will help me most.

The current form is .pdf.  I would not be surprised to see it emerge as a mostly public Google doc.

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