At the recent LegalTech 2009 conference, nearly every session I attended started with some variant of the words: “Doing more with less.” To be honest, even the session I spoke at spent some time on why a downturn is a good time to invest in social media tools. (Hint: Social media tools help you do more with less.)
In retrospect, we were all working from a glass-half-empty perspective. Given the tenor of the times, that is perfectly understandable. Nonetheless, I was very glad to be reminded today by Andrea Meyer that working from a glass-half-full perspective can be much more productive. In her post, Dr. Seuss: Innovating within Constraints, she tells the story of how Theodore Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss) was asked to create a reading primer that was more compelling than the bland fare then available to children in the early 1950s. The catch was that he was limited to a vocabulary of just over 200 common words that were well within the abilities of beginning readers. Instead of railing against the constraint, he reveled in it. The result was The Cat in the Hat — and a revolution in children’s literature.
In this era of shrinking budgets and staff, law firm knowledge management is facing some real constraints. Creating something useful (and even innovative) is a great challenge — especially given the nearly overwhelming temptation to retrench or retreat. Yet, how you approach the constraints you face can have a great impact on what you can accomplish. As Andrea Meyer points out, one great benefit of a constraint is that it helps limit choices and frees you from distraction. She suggests working within your constraints by stripping a problem down to its basic elements and then putting those elements together in new and unusual combinations until you come upon a creative solution.
March 2 was the anniversary of Theodore Geisel’s birth. In honor of the occasion, I’d propose that we name him the Patron Saint of Recessionary KM and then take another look at our situation to see if we can follow his example by exploiting our constraints to innovate with verve.
[Photo Credit, Diane Cordell]
Above and Beyond KM 
You pose an interesting question about innovating in KM within the legal field. I did a quick search to see what has been written recently on this topic, and most of the material focuses on the tools and technology side. (I realize your blog is called “Above & Beyond” in an attempt to move beyond just the technology!) The challenge with tools, of course, is that if they force us into an unnatural or inconvenient process, they won't get used. The constraint to exploit may be: how can we integrate KM processes more naturally into our daily work patterns? What KM processes would aid our workflow rather than making new demands on us?
Andrea -You've put your finger on one of our key challenges. The more we learn about KM, the more we understand that for it to work well it must be so tightly integrated into our daily work flow that is perfectly natural and does not require extra effort or attention. Interestingly, this close relationship between KM and work flow seems to enhance the opportunities for innovation and contribution, rather than inhibit them.- Mary
Of course there needs to be a balance between innovation and following standard work processes. I do not want the pilot of the plane to try something innovative when he is coming in to land! But innovation is still important – but moreso than not we tend to add things to products and services when we are trying to do something different with them.Constraining material to lead to innovations is on of the main thinking tools (Subtraction) used by those at Systematic Inventive Thinking – well worth a look through their website – http://www.sitsite.com
Luke – I agree that there is a time and place for choosing standard work processes over innovation. Given human nature, however, I'd be inclined to tilt slightly towards innovation. With respect to subtraction, it is a powerful means to innovation that is being forced on many in the current economy. This post was intended to encourage folks to take advantage of that subtraction — just as Dr. Suess did.- Mary
Luke – I agree that there is a time and place for choosing standard work processes over innovation. Given human nature, however, I'd be inclined to tilt slightly towards innovation. With respect to subtraction, it is a powerful means to innovation that is being forced on many in the current economy. This post was intended to encourage folks to take advantage of that subtraction — just as Dr. Suess did.- Mary