Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/34417
To determine whether data in the firm’s time entry system could be incorporated into the value stream map, the practice group chair asked each lawyer in the pilot to identify a short list of matters from the last few years as a representative sample for comparison. Using a recent matter as a test case for analysis, the firm’s financial reporting group compiled the data and graphed the results as a composition and distribution of time worked per role, per day. After several hours of discussion with the lead partner on the deal, we concluded that there was simply no way to extrapolate the cost of process segments, much less the individual process steps, based off of the existing data points. The dynamics of corporate transactions, the practice of block billing and a lack of coding had resulted in a set of unstructured data that was of little use in defining a baseline. Furthermore, given the complexity of the transactions in the sample, the opportunity cost of attempting to restructure the time entries by manually parsing the data was simply too great. While the lack of useful hard data presented another challenge to the development of the value stream map, it also prompted a deeper discussion of the dynamics of information flow and of other more qualitative attributes of activities within each process 44 Knowledge Management ILTA White Paper concluded that if lawyers started coding their time based on a defined set of project phases, data could be gleaned from the accounting system and layered onto the process map.” “The team segment. As a result of this dialogue, the team began evaluating the benefits of different forms of estimation and again reached consensus on a viable way to approximate values for cycle and lead times. Going forward, the team concluded that if lawyers started coding their time based on a defined set of project phases, data could be gleaned from the accounting system and layered onto the process map. Until then, the group would continue to focus on describing and understanding the dynamics of transactions from a Lean Six Sigma perspective in order to gain as much insight as possible. TURNING DRAFTS The lawyers faced yet another challenge in the pilot: They had to overcome the tendency to perceive transaction documentation in more traditional ways. Initial discussions narrowed the team’s focus not only to the subset of documents within the central flow of the process, but also the standard set of provisions anticipated in the model transaction. Unlike more common form-creation exercises or even projects involving document assembly tools, the objective of applying Lean Six Sigma concepts to a set of documents was not simply to accelerate the production of an initial draft or to build a