publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/395170
LEARNING TO SWIM One of the skills our team mastered was asking questions in order to elicit details from people. Inevitably, steps were left out, and we had to be astute enough to realize when things were missing. Asking "How?" and "In what way?" nets better results. As people answer these questions, you quickly identify missing steps. We also realized we needed to make sure all parties had a say. It's sometimes the quietiest person who has the most to contribute and simply needs some encouragement to do so. This is especially true with accounting and finance or technical groups, who are not as naturally chatty as trainers. Gathering existing materials greatly helped us move things along. These existing materials let us know which parts of the processes were already documented. In some instances, the groups with whom we were working corrected things that were wrong or had never been included or updated in documentation, so we achieved a double win. This approach also showed the groups we were working with that we had done our homework and were serious about the project. STAYING IN YOUR LANE As facilitators, the trainers found it was important to get the participating groups to define a start and end to each process before mapping it. This helped break things into manageable chunks and keep everyone on track. "The parking lot" is one tool trainers use frequently as a place to capture items that come up but don't fit within the current conversation. This helps keep people on track and allows for follow up later. If people get off track, your facilitators need to stay focused on the task at hand and keep people moving forward, or things will bog down in a hurry. If your trainers are used to managing similar situations in the classroom, they will not shy away from this critical skill. Once you begin mapping out the processes, your facilitators must be face-to-face with the individual or individuals giving the information. You're going to need a room with a very large whiteboard and lots of markers and erasers. An alternative electronic version in either Microsoft PowerPoint or Visio can work, but everyone will need to be able to see the entire presentation. As processes start unfolding, you will be identifying gaps and doing a lot of revising. At the conclusion, you will need a way to document the final result. A smartphone's video camera works well for capturing complicated processes. We didn't realize it at the time, but we were using swim lane methodology to diagram our processes. Swim lane diagrams divide processes into lanes that run either vertically or horizontally to designate different subprocesses or areas of responsibility. We had decided up front that we should break processes into what was done by the ILTA WHITE PAPER: OCTOBER 2014 WWW.ILTANET.ORG 19 SWIM LANES: MAPPING PROCESSES WHILE LEARNING TO SWIM Swim lane diagrams divide processes into lanes that run either vertically or horizontally to designate different sub- processes or areas of responsibility.