The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50809
BY JASON LEUNG TECH SUPPORT Staying on track Project management tools let you better monitor costs, schedules, communication, and generally get any project — be it a legal matter or instituting new sytems — done more efficiently. M y next series of arti- cles will deal with one of the most dis- cussed topics in law practice manage- ment today: project management. In this first article, I give an overview of some project management basics and discuss reasons why law firms should adopt project management principles. What is a project? The Project Management Institute says a "project" is "a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result." Projects can be com- pleted in a day or take several years, and they can involve one person or thousands of people. However, all projects generally have the following characteristics: • Projects are temporary and must have a beginning and an end. • Projects create something that is unique. For example, in contrast to a company's operations where repetitive products are manufactured, a project results in something that is unique. • Projects consume resources, such as human and financial resources. • Projects have a sponsor. The spon- sor generally provides direction and financial resources for the project, and is often the customer or client. • Projects involve a degree of uncer- tainty or risk such as uncertainty as to how long the project will take to complete or how much it will cost. There are many examples of projects in the context of a law practice. For example, representing a client in a trade- mark infringement action is considered a project. A trademark infringement action is temporary, produces a unique result, requires human and financial resources, has the client as the primary sponsor, and involves uncertainty as to the end result. Law practices can also conduct inter- nal projects to upgrade their operations. For instance, the recent implementation of a document management system at my law firm, as discussed in my previous articles, is also considered to be a project. What is project management? The Project Management Institute defines "project management" as "the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements." Project man- agers use more than 40 different project management processes when carrying out a project. These project management processes can be categorized into the fol- lowing nine areas: • Scope management, which includes defining and maintaining control over all of the work that needs to be done for the project; • Time management, which involves developing a project schedule and ensuring the project is completed on time; • Cost management, which includes determining and managing the budget for the project; • Quality management, where steps are taken to ensure the project will fulfil stated or implied requirements; • Human resource management such 18 A U GUST 2011 www. CANADIAN Lawyermag.com as acquiring, developing, and manag- ing the people on the project team; • Communications management that involves generating and distributing project information; • Risk management, where risks related to the project are identified, analyzed, and dealt with; • Procurement management that includes acquiring goods or services from outside the organization per- forming the project; and • Integration management, which involves processes that relate to all of the other eight knowledge areas. Project management in a law prac- tice involves all nine areas. For example, when representing a client in a trademark infringement action, a lawyer or team must define and maintain control over all the work that needs to be done to represent the client (scope), develop and closely monitor a schedule in order to meet all due dates (time), determine and manage a budget (cost), and so on. Why should a law practice use project management? Project management has been proven to provide a wide range of different busi- nesses with many advantages, including: increased ability to monitor and control the use of financial and human resources; lower internal costs and higher profit margins; better quality products and/or services; higher morale for people in the organization; improved internal and exter- nal communication; reduction of risks that could have a negative impact on the performing organization; and provision