8/9/2019 Getting Legal Done: Better Productivity in Five Clear Steps - May 2010 ACC Docket Article

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10ACC Docket May 2010

Getting Legal Done: Better Productivityin Five Clear Steps

Stress- ree productivity is a concern or all legaldepartments, regardless o size. Nowhere does it hitcloser to home, however, than in a small law depart-ment where there is a glaring lack o resources (per-sonnel and so tware tools) to manage an ever-moutingworkload especially with growing governmentregulation and the state o the economy bearing onAmerican businesses. How does small law stay orga-nized and out o overwhelm? Consider these fve stepstaken rom Getting Things Done , a bestselling book bythe personal productivity guru David Allen.

The basic tenets o GTD are simple. First , get yourto-dos out o your head and into a trusted repository Your subconscious wont let go o in ormation unlessit eels sa e to place it somewhere reliable. It can be amanual system or an electronic system, but the opera-tive word here is trusted it has to work the sameway each and every time you use it, regardless o whereyou are. Your subconscious is not easily ooled.

Second , Clari y. Its important to determine whatin ormation rom the Step 1 brain dump is relevantor actionable. I the item is actionable, then what arethe action steps? What is the desired or committed

outcome and what resources are required to completethe action? I the item is not actionable, ask yoursel iits relevant. I it is, decide whether it should be kept or

uture re erence or pitched.

Third , Organize. Organizing is parking in orma-tion appropriately. Most o us organize our commit-ments or to-dos by when they are due or perceivedto be due. Allen proposes that a more e fcient wayto organize commitments/to-dos is by where or howyou will complete them contexts. Some examples ocontexts are: phone calls, at your computer, at home,

waiting on someone else, someday/maybe, etc. Manag-ing to-dos by context will help you complete the work

aster, more e fciently, and more o ten than not, aheado the due date.

Fourth , Re ect/ Review. See the big picture andupdate your commitments or to-dos by looking backwith post mortems and orward with next steps.Weekly reviews are needed to maintain control overyour workload. Dedicating one to two hours every Fri-

day a ter lunchwill help yougain perspectiveand prepare ornext week, nextmonth or maybeeven the nextday i you are aweekend worker.I you incorpo-rate a dedicatedweekly review

into your schedule, within a short period o time youare less likely to be a weekend worker!

Finally , Engage at the execution level. Understandwhat needs to be done next to get you closer to yourdepartments goals and objectives, your corporationsvision or simply getting work out the door and do it.Company executives and personnel rely on in ormation

rom the legal department more than rom anywhereelse in the company. There is tremendous pressure toget things done quickly and no one understands bet terthan lawyers that there is no margin or error in the law.

The right so tware can help small law departmentsput the GTD tenets into practice. One example is Get-ting Legal Done, a web-based system that includestask management, collaborative tools, Microso tOutlook integration and other eatures specifcallybased on the GTD system. It also links directly to ACCresources or quick and easy re erence. (Find out moreat www.gettinglegaldone.com .)

Fred Krebs said it best in a GettingLegalDone2009 press release: Challenging times make it moreimportant than ever or small law departments toavoid high cost missteps and help their businesses

grow. Make a commitment to embrace a personalproductivity process that works or you (matched withthe technology that supports it) and move toward thegoal o stress- ree productivity.