Do you keep paper files and electronic files for your matters? When you and your team receive an email, how many people save it?  When you buy something, do you get a paper receipt and a copy via email? What do all these things have in common?

Yup. They’re all examples of waste…the waste of overproduction.

In this tip, we’re continuing to break down the DOWNTIME framework, and O is for Overproduction.

The Tip: Weekly meetings are an easy way to reduce overproduction in your practice.

In a law practice, overproduction happens any time you’re doing more than what’s needed or doing it sooner than required. It results in a mismatch between work product and need, and that’s a waste.

Think about your own work. How often do you or your colleagues…

•  Cc everyone on a file, or worse, hit the reply-all button?
•  Print something (like an email!), file the paper copy, and also save an electronic copy
•  Sit through a presentation where the presenter reads directly from the PowerPoint slides
•  Get your work done way in advance (even though your teammates are busy on urgent things)?
  

Once you identify any of these kinds of overproduction, you can start work on reducing them.

Sometimes, overproduction is easy to spot: you print 15 copies of a document but only need 12. Other times, it’s harder. When you get work done on Task A sooner than it’s required, it can seem efficient. But if other members of your team are under pressure to complete Task B immediately, and they need your help, then getting Task A done early is actually overproduction. You should be helping the team on Task B. To identify this kind of overproduction requires that you to take an “enterprise view” of your group or your department. You need to know what your colleagues are doing and what problems they’re facing.

Still not convinced? Imagine you’re all rowing a boat. One of you is rowing harder or faster than everyone else. That person is working hard. Getting it all done…but is your boat going to move efficiently through the water? Nope. You’re going to get your oars tangled and go nowhere.

Weekly meetings are an easy way to give everyone that enterprise view. In these short, regular, mandatory meetings, everyone has to answer three questions:

1. What have you done since the last meeting?
2. What do you have to do before the next meeting?
3. What support do you need to get that done?

Your Action Item: This week, look for overproduction in your work or the work of your colleagues. Identify just one example of overproduction and ask yourself how you can reduce it or maybe even eliminate it!

Stay tuned as we continue to break down the DOWNTIME framework in the coming weeks. Every waste you identify is an opportunity to save time and improve the productivity and profitability of your practice.

P.S. Become a certified legal project manager! It’s coming down to the wire on our upcoming LPP training, where we’ll be guiding a small cohort through strategies for legal project management so you can effectively and confidently run your practice. If you’re on the fence, register now! We still have a few spots available, but we’re capping enrolment at 10 people. The course starts October 20. Register today.