This week, Gimbal’s Tip of the Week goes back to basics with the Practice Accelerator Framework. Based on the Lean theory of DMAIC, the Practice Accelerator Framework gives you an effective, step-by-step process you can use to increase your chances of success in every legal process improvement project you undertake. This is a solid, proven process for your process improvement initiatives.

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What is DMAIC?

DMAIC stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control.

Using it means you start every project by defining the nature and scope of the process you want to target (Define).

Then you establish your performance baseline (Measure) and work to identify the underlying reasons behind the inefficiency and waste in your current performance (Analyze).

Next, you brainstorm for solutions to those root causes, prioritize your improvement ideas, and test them, before implementing the ones that work (Improve).

Finally, you manage and sustain your solutions (Control).

The easiest way to apply the Practice Accelerator Framework is with what we call the Five Core Questions.

1. What does our client want or need? (Define)
2. How do we work now to get that result? (Measure)
3. Why do we do work that way? (Analyze)
4. How can we work better? (Improve)
5. Is our new process delivering what the client wants and are we following it? (Control)

The Practice Accelerator Framework should be YOUR Process Improvement Process.

It will help you overcome the urge to jump right to a solution before you really understand your problem. That is a big problem in many process improvement projects. In law, we tend to be very results-oriented, because the pressure to deliver definitive answers or completed transactions is high.

The problem is, when you apply legal, solution-oriented thinking to process improvement, you tend to focus on what you assume is the answer to what you think is the problem. Often that is a recipe for disaster, since you may end up solving the wrong problem entirely, or treating the symptoms, while the real cause lurks underneath, ready to raise its ugly head to cause you more problems another day.

The Practice Accelerator Framework slows you down. It ensures you are thorough. It helps you target the actual problem…not the problem you think you have.

For the rest of the summer, our weekly tips will work through the Practice Accelerator Framework. By the end, you will be approaching every process improvement project in a much more effective way.

Come back next week and sign up so you don’t miss an episode.

In the meantime, feel free to contact us with any questions or comments you have, and join the LeanLegal Community on Facebook! We post regularly on Lean, efficiency, practice management and more.

Thanks a lot everybody! See you next week.