Remember when we thought 2020 would never end? Now, we are already approaching the end of the first quarter of 2021! It’s time to get serious about your matter management system.

Last month, we explored effective collaboration strategies for remote teams. Be sure to check out those tips here: 1 Thing You Need to Do if You Want Remote Work to Work for Your Team.

Now that your teams are good to go, you still need effective ways to track all the matters and projects that you’re managing simultaneously. How are you allocating and supervising work across your practice? Are you staying sane while you scroll through endless emails, making sure nothing falls through the cracks?

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As lawyers, it often feels like our to-do list grow longer by the day. But written to-do lists are stressful and inefficient. We are hard-wired to process visual information much faster. 60,000 times faster, than text.

That is why our tip this week is: toss your to-do list in favour of a visual Kanban board. You may already be familiar with this popular method of project management. It’s used in industries from software development to manufacturing, and it’s popular because it works

We like to call these matter management boards, because as lawyers, we manage matters. This simple tool will help you to visualize everything on your plate. You will feel more in control, less stressed, and more confident in your ability to satisfy your clients.

If you are new to matter management boards, you will definitely want a copy of our free Quick-Start Guide: 5 steps to getting work out of email and into a visual system that will save you time & money! It tells you what you need to know to get own matter management board set up in no time!

Start with a simple matter management board to track your open matters. It can be as easy as three columns (To Do/Doing/Done). Each client or matter goes on a separate card. The cards go into their respective columns and can be shifted around as the matter progresses.

With a system like this, a quick glance at your matter management board can assure you that you’re on track, or alert you if something needs to be done.

If you’re ready to end Q1 with a more effective, less stressful method of managing your matters and your clients, it’s time to download the Matter Management Quick-Start Guide. We know this system works because we use it ourselves - every single day.

For the month of March, we are focusing on visual matter management. In our next tip, we will  show you how you can use your board to simplify complex matters with multiple steps. Be sure to sign up here so you don’t miss a Tip of the Week.

Thanks a lot everybody!