publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/395170
Several years ago, my firm mapped out user- facing accounting processes. Fast forward to earlier this year: I attended an ILTA webinar on process mapping that was presented by experts. As a result, I realized that while we had not known how to formally complete process mapping, we still managed to do a pretty good job. Learning from our experience is a good way to dip your toe in the pool before diving into legal process mapping and improvement, which is infinitely more complex. Come on in, the water's fine! GETTING THE RIGHT START The biggest thing we got right at the outset was knowing the who, what and why of our process documenting project. • Who: We knew who the end result was for, who was involved in the processes and who could provide us with needed information (or direct us to who could provide it). • What: We determined exactly what we wanted to map out, and we identified critical pieces of information. • Why: We articulated why we were asking people to document their processes. You must be clear on the intent and objectives of your fact-finding mission in order to set expectations for participants. You're not going to know everything right off the jumping block, or you wouldn't be undertaking this project. We all have false starts, but your ability to get back on track will serve you well in this undertaking. How you interact with the people involved is also important. While it might not be possible to have all stakeholders in one room at the outset, everyone needs to receive the same message about the goals and expectations of the project. At least have videoconferencing available for face-to-face communication of the mission, so any questions or concerns can be addressed early in the process. PICKING THE RIGHT TEAM Our firm's trainers acted as facilitators for the sessions where we were gathering information. The trainers were well-equipped for this project from being naturally curious and good communicators, and from having trained people on the processes. If you do not have a team of trainers to utilize, find the person on your team who asks the most questions and takes time to really listen. The process is as much about asking questions as it is about listening to answers, sleuthing out the missing parts and then connecting the dots. For our fact-finding sessions to be most effective, we needed to have more than one facilitator. We required at least two, one to ask questions and one to diagram. In the first few sessions, we involved the whole training team to get everyone familiar with how to facilitate and draw the full picture of the processes most efficiently. Some people are naturally better at facilitating than others, and starting this way helped us hone the necessary skills for everyone involved. You will also need someone who is skilled at using Microsoft Visio or a similar tool for diagramming out the processes. However, it is not necessary for that person to participate in the fact- finding sessions. As long as your facilitators are able to document the information completely, the actual mapping can be done later. ILTA WHITE PAPER: OCTOBER 2014 WWW.ILTANET.ORG 18 SWIM LANES: MAPPING PROCESSES WHILE LEARNING TO SWIM It's sometimes the quiet person who has the most to contribute and simply needs some encouragement to do so.