Lean Client Service
Wikipedia defines "lean" this way:
Lean manufacturing or lean production, which is often known simply as "Lean", is a production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. Working from the perspective of the customer who consumes a product or service, "value" is defined as any action or process that a customer would be willing to pay for. Basically, lean is centered around creating more value with less work.
That, my friends, is an incredibly powerful idea.
During the summer, I had occasion to visit with someone who is a lean expert. He explained that there are seven points of waste that must be analyzed in every production or service scheme. They are highlighted in the graphic. Lean is routinely applied to service offerings and can easily be applied to the practice of law, ranging from a particular lawsuit to litigation generally (or other practice areas too) to the entire operation of the firm. One might view a brief written by a rookie associate that is completely redone by a senior associate before being edited by a partner as wasteful. If the error happens too frequently, perhaps the first draft should be done by a more senior person.
I am not suggesting answers--we're still trying to come up with lean processes at Valorem. But I am suggesting that the process, the questions and critical analysis, should be implemented in law firms.
Hi Pat,
This is an enormously contentious issue. I don't think Lean (or Six-Sigma) is relevant in a knowledge firm, where the talisman should be effectiveness, not efficiency. There's an enormous difference between these two.
I have seen many professional firms attempt to implement Lean. Yet it was invented for manufacturers, not knowledge firms. Google and Apple don't use it, for a good reason. It's too focused on efficiency and not effectiveness. Lean would never argue for 20% Google Time.
If you want to read the debate on this issue, see:
http://www.verasage.com/index.php/community/
comments/book_review_is_mayo_clinic_efficient_
or_effective/
http://www.verasage.com/index.php/community/
comments/was_drucker_wrong_about_knowledge
_workers_a_book_review/
Regards,
Ron Baker, Founder
VeraSage Institute
www.verasage.com
Twitter @ronaldbaker