Dec 4, 2009 0
Comment Repost: EDRM Addition
This comment was left on the eDiscovery101 Blog (“Do we need an addition to the EDRM?“). This post asked about costing models…not sure why that would ever be part of the EDRM, but see Tom Gelbman’s comment for the answer to that!
It’s hard to criticize the EDRM, because so many people are invested in it, –but that’s a natural byproduct of the work my company is doing to bring Agile perspectives to the practice of law.
EDRM describes, at a task level, what needs to be done. I really think that’s all it was originally intended to do! The problem is when you work from task up, teams give suboptimal results. Not really a dirty, little secret given publication of the Facciola-Redgrave Framework.
I debuted the use of Scrum for management of document review teams at the Munich ScrumGathering a month ago, and as soon as I showed an image of the V2 EDRM, someone called out “Waterfall!”
Just like the PMI has recognized the high value of Agile, we think that firms will recognize that even within the EDRM, an Agile approach will help reduce confusion and increase business value.
In other words, from a flow perspective, most software folks (who have a huge lead in terms of team work dynamics) recognize that a series of handoffs and extremely complex lines of responsibility are an inadequate response to the needs of data-centric eDiscovery.
What I’m trying to address in the “Litigation Ecosystem Framework (LEF),” then, is a way forward. Implementation with change as a given without sacrificing quality is where Agile has a lot to offer.
Is Agile easy? No, it’s actually going to require that lawyers bring their A game. But, the rewards to clients of transparency, concepts of “done” and prioritized work flow will definitely win out in the end.
No, what we’re doing in terms of Agile is not as well developed, but I think that it will compete very nicely as a model for HOW to get work done, –particularly now that we also have the Facciola-Redgrave Framework which requires that lawyers figure out FAST how to get through the complexity.
Agile is based on complexity science, and maybe, rather than saying that the EDRM is better as a theoretical model, we can say that in looking at the EDRM, Agile teams can work through it better.
The ScrumGathering is an international conference of experts and proponents of Scrum and I’m counting on a wide network of experts to help me bring this thing to lawyers, firms and their clients. It’s not about bashing the EDRM, so much as helping lawyers do what we do BETTER.
Many lawyers are looking for ways to improve how litigation teams function, and this is where I think the “Agile for Lawyers” project is really going to shine. Eventually, we *will* focus on collaboration with both the EDRM and Sedona folks. I warmly encourage anyone interested to follow one or more of these Twitter streams: @ALASSN @AgileLawyer @AgileAgreements.