The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/163881
smart moves USING DESIGN TO IMPROVE KM Using Design to Improve KM by Kate Simpson of Tangledom and Andrea Alliston and April Brousseau of Stikeman Elliott LLP Developing software, interfaces and systems that lawyers will use and engage with requires us to look over the high walls of our industry and pay attention to what's happening out there on the Web. It's never been easier to buy books, stream movies, order groceries, book flights and hotels, and even bank online. Why is it, then, that finding the right document, the right expert or completing one's CLE requirements still seems to take an inordinate amount of effort in our law firms? The products and services we use and love have undergone a transformation in the ways they are planned, designed and developed. Whether you call it user experience (UX), user-centered design (UCD), interaction design (IxD), information architecture (IA) or service/business design (for redesigning full business models and customer experiences), this field has developed into a craft that has changed the way we experience, interact and engage with websites, brands and products. Back in the formative years of the Web (the '90s), we were completely absorbed by what was possible, by what the technology could do. Now, however, it's less about how featurerich the technology is, and more about whether it does what we need it to do. It's about designing tools and services around the communications and interactions that people really care about. "When technology precedes requirements and user needs, the UX suffers — it leads to solutions in search of problems." — Peter Morville, Semantic Studios We have also found this illustrative approach an effective way to communicate back to the stakeholders themselves. For example, we were able to use this approach to communicate to management the relationship between the data collected as part of this project and our other systems for the purposes of a related analytics project. We did so by creating a high-level visual that was subsequently presented to management. Where several months ago I would have written a detailed memo outlining the relationships and their significance, by drawing it out we were able to communicate effectively some very complex ideas in a simple and user-friendly format that everyone around the table — management, lawyers and technology professionals together — could understand and appreciate. Seeing the Big Picture Another shared trait of the INTJ personality type is the ability to see and appreciate connections. INTJs have been described as systemsminded, future-oriented and sometimes visionary. They typically are strategists who can see future possibilities and work with those in mind. Their preferred learning style is theoretical and with the big picture first, so, when communicating with them, it is best to present global schemes and concepts before presenting lots of detail. With this in mind, it was no wonder that my technology colleagues had questions about my initial project requirements. My simple project statement that the goal was to improve our collection and organization of contextual matter information was simply not enough to tell them what the big picture was. After we sat down and talked about why this project was important to our long-term strategic goals, our technology colleagues were able to better understand our intent with some of the requirements. Then they were able to suggest changes to those requirements based on 26 Peer to Peer FOR DETAILS ON HOW WE HAVE USED AN ILLUSTRATIVE APPROACH TO USER REQUIREMENTS IN DESIGN, SEE THE JULY 2013 ILTA KM WHITE PAPER ARTICLE "USING DESIGN TO IMPROVE KM." http://epubs.iltanet.org/i/143561/43 their own insights on the connections between systems, our goals and other projects. We now try to start all our projects by describing the context first, and we try to keep relating the details of requirements back to the big picture as we work. This is a helpful way to keep the ultimate goal at the forefront of everyone's minds as the project develops. It is also a way to engage technology staff in a more meaningful way and to benefit from their strategic insights at a more global level. Birds That Flock Together… While technology teams and lawyers might sit on different floors, that does not mean we are as different as some might think. The next time you approach a project with the IT team, try focusing on the similarities in our professions' typical personality types instead of the differences. By doing so, you can improve the way you communicate with each other. That, in turn, can lead to more effective collaboration and problem-solving, from which the entire organization can benefit. April Brousseau is the Assistant Director of the Library and Knowledge Management in the Toronto office of Stikeman Elliott. She leads the planning and implementation of knowledge management projects, including the identification and assessment of technology tools and legal processes to improve the delivery of legal services and to increase productivity and efficiency of the firm's lawyers. She can be contacted at abrousseau@stikeman.com.