4 Cornerstones of ESI Project Management

Introduction

I believe that there are four pillars of successful ESI project management.  These are (1) predictability, (2) transparency, (3) repeatability, and (4) defensibility.  All four of these are equally important. When one of these cornerstones is lacking or out of balance, the viability of the success of the project is jeopardized. To that end, it is important to understand these core components in detail and to understand their interdependence. It is also critically important to begin each project, regardless of size, with the same detailed level of preparation. You should fully be prepared to have a project balloon in size. How many times have you had what appeared at the onset to be a small matter with a couple custodians?  You conduct a minimal amount of preparation, expecting a quick conclusion to the matter. Without notice, your client advises you that the matter has grown exponentially, and 20 or 30 more custodians have been added. You quickly realize that your preparations were inadequate and you are now scrambling to catch up. You’ll spend the rest of the matter in that phase. So, begin with the end in mind.  Plan and execute.

Predictability

So let’s look at the first of the four cornerstones. Predictability.  What does this mean?  Does it mean that you are going to predict the course of the matter and plan accordingly?  No, of course not.  It means that you should look at the matter at hand and predict the areas of the matter where you know have potential to grow. And guess what?  That means that you should be fully prepared for any component of the matter to grow quickly. Custodians. Date ranges. Search terms.  In other words, you must be scalable and you must be nimble.  I know that frequently we, as ESI PMs, experience the theory of “hurry up and wait”, but when action is called for, it rarely has any real warning.  It comes in the form of a panicked call or email from your customer.  The scope has changed, but the deadline has not.  You are now managing chaos.  Your customer is in a full-fledged panic and it is up to you to keep the project on the tracks. 

Were you able to predict the scope change?  Of course not.  If you were, you would not be reading this blog.  You’d be in Las Vegas.  But, you most certainly possess the ability to predict that your matter will change and be prepared for it.  And, on the off-chance that the scope does not change, then you were incredibly prepared.

Transparency

Let’s look at transparency next. Your customer should understand everything you’ve done. Does this mean that your customer should be able to perform the work?  Of course not. But, if you cannot be fully transparent with your customer, how can your customer possibly be able to explain the work performed to opposing counsel or the SEC or DOJ?  This is wrapped tightly into defensibility, which we’ll cover shortly. This does not mean giving away your customer’s legal strategies. What it does mean, however, is that your customer needs to be able to explain what you’ve done in order to arrive at a group of files for production, for example. You don’t want to give your customer’s opponent ammunition in the matter. How many times have you seen a case lose focus on the merits of the matter in favor of focusing on the process employed in the electronic discovery phase of the matter?  This is more than fine for your customer’s opponent, but you most certainly do not want to have your processes and methodologies brought into question. Once this happens, your customer is upset, you’ve potentially damaged your customer’s case, and you spend the duration of the matter under the microscope. So, easy, right?  For the most part, yes. How are you transparent?  Through reporting. Through documentation. Through communication.  Through doing what you said you were going to do. 

Repeatability

Repeatability may take on multiple meanings in the management of an eDiscovery matter.  It may mean that your processes are repeatable.  There are a few schools of thought here as it related to repeatability.  First, it is most certainly in your best interest to create and build your processes to be repeatable in order to maximize your margins on your work.  When you consistently have to reinvent the wheel, your delivery time is hampered and your quality is potentially impacted.  This could be as simple as making sure that you have all of the documents that you use to run your matters easily accessible.  If you have to recreate a report each time, you lose precious time.   If you lead a project management team, make sure they are all working off the same page, using the same documents.  SharePoint is an excellent example of a tool to use in order to govern version control issues on document templates.  Whatever manner you chose, your PM team should be able to deliver the same reports, the same documents, and the same information to each customer every time.  Albeit an overused example, consider a fast food restaurant.  Have you ever seen the area where the cooks prepare the food?  They have diagrams of how to assemble the products they sell – what goes where in what order.  You know that whatever location you go to, you are going to get the same product.  Their processes are repeatable.  So should yours. 

The second school of thought here relates to making sure that you can repeat your results when asked to.  The first example that comes to mind in support of this theory is your ability to recreate searches.  You should be able to recreate searches at any given time throughout a matter and achieve the same results.  If you cannot, your work is not repeatable.  Nor is it transparent.  Nor is it defensible.  You’ve single handedly damaged three of the four pillars.  The most simplistic way to assist here?  Documentation, documentation, documentation.  Document your work so when the matter stalls out for three months and you’ve completely forgotten about it, you won’t need to spend hours or days getting back up to speed when the matter resumes. 

Defensibility

Your processes must be defensible.  Period.  From start to finish, your work should be able to withstand professional scrutiny.  At some point in time, your methodologies will be called into question.   If you are not able to thoroughly explain and defend the work you’ve performed, your customer will suffer.  More and more often, opposing counsel is targeting the eDiscovery vendor to gain an advantage in the matter.  Ever seen these questions?

1. Did the eDiscovery vendor harvest correctly?
2. Did the eDiscovery vendor maintain chain of custody?
3. Did the eDiscovery vendor process the data correctly?
4. Did the eDiscovery vendor search the data correctly?
5. Did the eDiscovery vendor structure the review correctly?
6. Did the eDiscovery vendor produce the data correctly?

If any of these questions sound familiar, then you already have an understanding of the importance of defensibility.  Through thorough documentation and the use of repeatable processes, you should be able to navigate these waters easily.  The best litmus test?  If you cannot explain what work you performed succinctly and clearly, your customer cannot.

Conclusion

These four cornerstones are so interdependent that if one is off, two or three or even all of them are in jeopardy.  How does an ESI PM avoid this?  Planning, documenting, and reviewing all phases of your projects.  Communicating with your team.  Communicating with your customer.  Even then, things can go awry.  I really like the Boy Scout Motto from 1911.  Be Prepared.

Coming Soon – Managing Chaos: What to Do When the Project Comes Off the Tracks

Coming Soon – Stop Destroying Your Margins by Reinventing the Wheel

Coming Soon – Managing Scope Creep from the Client Side

Coming Soon – Managing Scope Creep from the Vendor Side