Canadian Lawyer

18 M A Y 2 0 1 8 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m products to ensure there is good return on investment for the firm. But there is no formal framework in place that specifi- cally focuses on delivering the success and firmwide adoption of those solutions. We attempt change management practices to build awareness, find cham- pions and attempt the chasm cross- ing to get more people on board. We identify and remove frictions, we build on short-term wins and sustain accel- eration, etc. But change management tends to work best when there is less uncertainty in either the processes, the software or how people will use it, such as document management or time and billing systems. The procedures and tasks that flow from enterprise software systems like these are well established. These cap- ital-expenditure projects and investments require a deep understanding of firm- specific requirements, a laser focus on the enterprise-wide system integrations needed and a very structured approach to planning the path for operationalizing that system. But once the decisions have been made and the development is underway, it becomes a change management exer- cise to get everyone using the system as intended. For the new and innovative tools on the market, however, it is a far more uncertain process. It is uncertain that the tool will create the efficiencies, save costs or create new revenue. It is uncertain that this new tool will work as promised in your firm or with your lawyers. It is uncer- tain that, beyond your early adopters, the tool will be taken up on a firm-wide basis. We need internal legal product manag- ers who are responsible for the success of the growing catalogue of legal technology at our firms. They would be responsible for ensuring that the tech investment pays off by creating the promised efficiencies or developing new revenue. They would be responsible for operationalizing the innovative technology inside our firms, turning the exciting and the new into the standard and "business as usual." They would focus on adapting established pro- cesses to create smarter, faster and better ways of doing things that fully leverage the power of technology. None of this happens by itself or by accident. It needs to be someone's respon- sibility to shape and manage a product's rollout internally and focus on the inevi- table ongoing design and development required to remain relevant to its users. A legal product manager takes a launched product from a vendor and creates an internal road map for the piloting, com- @k8simpson L E G A L I N N O VAT I O N N O W O P I N I O N e need a new role on the operations side of our law firms — an internal function that drives the launch, integration and ongo- ing use of the new and innovative tools that augment our law- yers' practices. That role is product management. "Product manager" is a job title that's all the rage from the financial industry to consumer and retail to the software and health industries — anywhere a product is purchased, used and adopted. And while we're not actively doing that for clients (yet), we are doing this internally as firms purchase and deploy technology for use by lawyers in their practices. Like those industries, our legal tech industry also has product managers who are responsible for the success of their newly launched solution in our industry. But there is no one formally responsible for the success of those products within our firms. There is obviously a lot of pressure on the business unit paying for these Bring on the product managers Law firms need a person who is formally responsible for product success By Kate Simpson W

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