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CCCA_V7No1_Dept-ProjectMgmt3-FIN_CCCA_V6No4 2/12/13 3:01 PM Page 10 Legal Project Management Putting You on the Path to Strategic Legal Planning Step 3 of 4 By Melissa LaFlair his piece is focused on Step 3 of a sense following Step 2, Step 3 involves The process of addressing each of these ele- Tfour-step process aimed at moving specifically considering each of the follow- ments doesn’t need to be complicated. legal counsel away from fighting fires ing nine knowledge areas set out (with a The important thing is to specifically and into the world of strategic planning: brief description) below: address each element, even those that may not seem relevant or important. For simple Integration matters, a five-line e-mail with a couple of STEP 1 Review status quo How project elements fit together CC’s could well cover Scope, Time and and within the organization HR as well as much of Communications. For a more involved example, let’s return STEP 2 Assess alternatives Scope to the situation covered in the Step 2 piece How selected approach satisfies the project parameters where legal was regularly working late and the marketing department’s last minute STEP 1 review status quo Plan “The Plan” Time requests for confidentiality agreements were STEP 3 Total amount of time to deliver the major source of these longer hours. Execute and monitor the deliverable Assume that at the end of Step 2 the best STEP 4 “The Plan” Cost alternative identified was to create a standard Total amount you can spend to confidentiality agreement template for the deliver the deliverable marketing department to use.Now you need The key to each step is working to plan how you will go about creating and Quality smarter, not harder, using project manage- ensuring the use of such standard form. Characteristics that final deliverable ment philosophies, tools and techniques. Start by jotting down the major, high- must have to meet scope expectations Step 3 is fluid and iterative in nature and level points for each of the nine elements involves planning how to implement the HR listed above. In particular, identify those best option that you identified in Step 2 People that need to be actively elements that will have the greatest impact (See: Putting you on the path to strategic involved in order to deliver the on your ability to successfully introduce a deliverable legal planning, Winter 2012). As you template that is actually used. Let’s say you address one of the areas identified below, Communications determine the element most critical to the you may discover it affects another area in project’s success is Risk (the marketing How, what, when and to whom a way you hadn’t expected. Therefore, as you communicate when delivering department not agreeing to or accepting with Step 2, working on the various ele- the deliverable the template approach) and that the fol- ments in parallel is often the most produc- lowing additional elements will also be Risk tive and efficient approach. particularly relevant: Integration (your How you will address things that organization is pushing to develop poten- could prevent your delivering the Step 3 — Plan “The Plan” tial deals faster and the template approach deliverable A high-level overview will assist in this effort), HR (tight since In the beginning,identify at a high level all Procurement legal is focused on high priority deals for ISTOCKPHOTO.COM of the relevant pieces and how they fit Elements of the deliverable that need the next three months and marketing is together. While you likely have a general to be purchased, from whom and how focused on preparing for their annual trade 10 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association SPRING 2013