Video: Agile project management for any lawyer

Busyness is the plague of Lawyerdom. Yet while lawyers claim busyness as a merit badge, our clients don’t care if we’re busy – only if we’re productive. Fortunately there is an entire professional discipline devoted to the art and science of productivity, and that’s the field of project management. This presentation offers suggestions about how lawyers can improve their effectiveness – and reduce the mental clutter of busyness – by borrowing Agile project management systems from the technology sector.

With its roots in the Toyota manufacturing revolution in Japan, the heart of Agile project management is a system of visualizing work in production. Called a kanban board, this system helps knowledge workers identify and prioritize actionable work, as well as identify the “bottleneck” in their workflow.

This presentation covers how lawyers can implement Agile principles and kanban workflows in their practices. Whether you run a transactional or litigation-focused practice, Agile can help you gain a new clarity and focus with your case load. Best of all, the tools for implementing kanban are either free or virtually free. Check out Agile and see if there is something you can borrow for your own practice.

This talk was delivered May 18, 2016 to the Real Property, Probate and Trust section of the East King County Bar Association.

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Greg McLawsen

Greg is recognized as the leading national authority on enforcement of the Form I-864, Affidavit of Support. Greg represents low-income green card holders in lawsuits to recover support from their sponsors. Practicing family-based immigration law, Greg also focuses on helping married and engaged couples with U.S. immigration.

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