Comments on: Will They Miss You When You’re Gone?

By: SBL Document management services

SBL Document management services — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:26:22 +0000

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By: Mary Abraham

Mary Abraham — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:23:13 +0000

I received the following comment today via e-mail and thought it was worth sharing.

- Mary

” Well stated. Metrics about results not about effort are the goal for every successful enterprise. Results are often measured in quantity= money saved or generated, time saved; quality = the absence or presence of something. Example of the measure of quality: when a speech writer prepares a speech that an executive delivers to an important audience `without changing a word,’ the customer (executive) has provided evidence for the quality of the speech writer’s work.”

By: Mark Gould

Mark Gould — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 10:01:03 +0000

I think one of the problems for KM is that it is a slow-burn activity. If you remove the KM team today, the impact on the health of the firm is not likely to be felt for a year or more — as good habits start to fade and the tools and processes put in place start to become a bit rusty. Once that happens, replacing the KM team is equally unlikely to have a positive impact for another year or so. That makes it more important to communicate the importance of KM early and often.

(On Doug’s point about KM and the billable hour, I am not sure that this is entirely true. In the first place, clients will always resist the extremes of pricing — KM can help make sure that the time recorded on a deal is limited by allowing key documents to be drafted according to precedents or using an automatic system. Secondly, one of the outcomes of KM can be to improve leverage so that firms get more out of their juniors — who are the most profitable members of a team.)

By: David

David — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:37:22 +0000

One of the LTNY KM sessions was titled “KM and Client Service,” and that is certainly one area where KM can really make a difference. If we can smooth the bumpy path of communication and information sharing between busy partners, matter managers, and marketing professionals, we’ve established value. If we help get that proposal out the door by encouraging a business process to get the relevant information before we need it, we’ve added value. Just ask one of the attendees at the senior KM gathering, whose group was formally merged with the Marketing Dept. Another woman there I talked to (where there isn’t really formal KM) does *nothing* at her firm that is not client-focused.

On the “traditional” KM side, I think search and document management system statistics are another little-used source of metrics. The average litigation associate at my firm uses the top work product retrieval product tool over 480 times a year. If I can prove I’ve greatly enhanced the use of that tool, I’m adding value to the firm, through enabling higher quality work faster.

By: Doug Cornelius

Doug Cornelius — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:47:51 +0000

You are “working towards some answers”? That is tough and I would be interested to hear where you come out.

My theory is that in a law firm billing by the hour, knowledge management will have a direct negative ROI. Inherent in knowledge management is producing better work, more efficiently. Law firm KM should result in less time being spent on a specific task. With a billable hour model, less time = less revenue. So negative ROI.

The value for KM has been the indirect benefits:
Clients may not be willing (and should not be willing) to pay for the inefficiency without KM.
Lawyers are happier that they can get work done quicker.
Smaller bills mean happier clients, stronger relationships and more work.

But it is hard to directly attribute those things to KM and therefore it is hard be measure the positive side of KM.

The other side of my theory is that if you move from the billable hour model to a flat fee or other model, then KM efficiency can be measured and KM can deliver profits.