It’s been awhile since I made a blog post out of a Twitter thread, but this seemed like as good a topic as any. (Oddly enough, the last one also had to do with the concept of waste).
I recently re-published an old post on “The Seven Wastes of Lawyers” which I readily admit is the most click-baity post I’ve ever done. Who doesn’t like to think of lawyers as incredibly wasteful? In the four years since I originally wrote it, however, my thinking has evolved a bit, and I still plan a more detailed post on that.
In the mean time, I had an interesting exchange with Peter Connor, who is doing some great work helping his clients improve their legal operations. Here it is in 7 tweets:
The Seven Wastes of Lawyers (slightly updated) https://t.co/NyoSah5381 pic.twitter.com/a1u99NCRR0
— John E. Grant (@JEGrant3) March 24, 2018
This is the best attempt I’ve seen to adapt Lean to Legal – well done! But isn’t it all a bit artificial? Why limit to these 7? Why not look for all sorts of problems and opportunities with a process?
— Peter Connor (@alternlegal) March 24, 2018
Thanks. A few thoughts on your Qs:
(1) Lean is so much more than finding and reducing waste. I’m actually reluctant to even focus on waste at the beginning, because there are more important elements to a Lean/Agile mindset.
/1
— John E. Grant (@JEGrant3) March 24, 2018
(2) That said, the “7 Wastes of Lean” are a pretty classic (if misunderstood) concept, and I think all other “wastes” (excepting maybe the 8th waste around untapped human potential that some add) fall under one of these headings.
/2
— John E. Grant (@JEGrant3) March 24, 2018
(3) The reason not to “look for all sorts of problems and opportunities with a process” is the #TheoryOfConstraints. Fixing things that aren’t your current bottleneck is itself a form of waste.
— John E. Grant (@JEGrant3) March 24, 2018
(4) Finally, what’s more important than finding and removing waste (especially early) is teaching teams how to find and fix their bottlenecks using a #PDCA cycle. Learning that #kaizen approach will yield better and surer long-term results than a big up-front “waste walk.”
/end
— John E. Grant (@JEGrant3) March 24, 2018
One other thought: If you haven’t already, check out “The Lean Strategy” by @Michael_Balle, @DanielJonesLean et. al. Great insight around what people have misunderstood about #Lean over the decades, and how to work on “Being Lean” instead of “Doing Lean.” https://t.co/CiiKvEvn1F
— John E. Grant (@JEGrant3) March 24, 2018
Want to talk about how to begin a Lean/Agile transformation in your legal team? Don’t hesitate to start a conversation with me. Or, if you’re not ready for that yet, you can always join the Agile Attorneys Slack Group.