Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/7694
www.iltanet.org The Business of Law 27 lean six sigMa: Mastering the art of service delivery lawyers and project managers can translate general expectations of responsiveness, quality and cost- effectiveness into measurable factors that Six Sigma defines as "Critical to Quality," which can then be validated with clients and communicated to project teams. Understanding, how to interpret the "voice of the client" is even more important when legal departments approach law firms from the standpoint of their own Six Sigma programs. Six Sigma also provides a world-class improvement methodology, DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control), which emphasizes the standardization of activities, data-based decision making and continuous improvement. Although Six Sigma is most famous for its statistical measurement of product defects, in a service environment, defects are not simply mistakes and rework, but any activity that does not add value from a client's perspective. In a recent article in iSixSigma Magazine, David Niles, President of SSA & Company, a leading consultancy for Lean Six Sigma, points out the importance of data- driven improvements. Their research of 500 companies showed that attempts to improve a process without a data-based approach result in a misdiagnosis of the root cause or causes of a problem nearly 40 percent of the time. Simply measuring a process is usually a challenge for law firms, since most systems are designed only to capture time for billing purposes. If one follows Richard Sabat's approach in his case study on mortgage loans, one could measure the number of hours each partner, associate and paralegal spent during each day on activities to complete a legal project. Then one could plot the data points along an x-axis (hours) and y-axis (days) to see the distribution of time for each type of timekeeper in a matter. Used alongside a process map, graphing a sample of these matters would show stakeholders the most critical periods of delay and rework, the greatest areas of variation in the amount of time needed to complete certain tasks, and opportunities to improve value by adjusting timekeeper assignments. Finally, by establishing a baseline for a type of matter, lawyers could better understand the costs of production for the service and approach alternative fee engagements with greater confidence. In the context of Six Sigma, continuous improvement goes beyond "lessons learned" by incorporating project data, client feedback and the team's observations to make processes more effective. greaTer Than The SuM of iTS ParTS Although Lean and Six Sigma methods can be used independently, often companies in service industries have minimized the trade-offs between quality and cost/time by integrating the two methods. Lean complements Six Sigma by reducing complexity, eliminating non-value added activities and improving cycle time. Three-to-five day Kaizen sessions can also accelerate DMAIC methods and balance resource constraints through intensive, action- oriented workshops. Six Sigma complements Lean by placing client value front and center, using data to reduce variation within key activities and creating an infrastructure to manage and sustain results. In an iSixSigma Magazine editorial, Jessica Harper relates the conviction of Bob Silvers, Managing Director of SSA & Company, that when used together, these