eDiscovery Daily Blog
eDiscovery Project Management: Applying Project Management Techniques to Electronic Discovery
All too often, electronic discovery projects fall apart. Deadlines are missed, costs exceed estimates, work product is flawed, and there aren’t good records of what was done. These problems can result in costs and hours that can’t be billed, dissatisfied clients, and in really bad situations, sanctions imposed by the court.
In so many cases, the problems can be avoided – or at least minimized – if basic, “common sense” project management techniques are applied. Project Management is not complicated or difficult. It is simply applying common sense principles to the projects that we handle.
Over the next few weeks, we’re going to talk about common sense project management techniques and how they can – and should – be applied to electronic discovery projects. We’ll cover several areas:
- Planning a project: Identifying the tasks that need to be done, putting together a “big picture” plan, and creating schedules and budgets for each task.
- Creating procedures: Why are documented procedures important and how do you prepare effective procedures?
- Assembling the right team: Who should do the work on a given task and how do you determine that?
- Training the team: Why is training important and what should be covered?
- Doing effective quality control: Why are quality control reviews important, how should they be done, and how often should they be done?
- Monitoring the work: How do you ensure that you’re on schedule and within budget for a project?
- Reporting: What kind of reporting should be done and how often?
- Effectively managing your staff: Some quick tips for getting good work from your staff.
- Effectively managing external resources: What can you do before a project starts, at the start of a project, and throughout a project to ensure that service providers are meeting schedules, budgets and quality requirements?
- Effectively managing your time: Some quick tips for managing your time so you’ll be as productive and effective as possible.
Tomorrow, I’ll begin talking about “big picture” planning for the overall project. See you then!
In the meantime, what do you think? Know any project management “horror stories”? Are there any specific project management areas you are having trouble with? Please share any comments you might have or let us know if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.