In-House Counsel

Before important changes in your department, steer to a pilot program

By Rees Morrison

Piloting is the practice of testing an innovation in real, yet controlled conditions to improve it and fix bugs (See my post of Feb. 20, 2006: get more value from pilot programs.). All kinds of program changes by law departments benefit from a trial run through a pilot (See my post of Feb. 1, 2006: Altria and litigation support; July 20, 2007: GE and diversity tracking; April 13, 2008: HSBC and its Malaysian knowledge center; and Jan. 22, 2009: Caterpillar and pro bono.). The feedback from a pilot program lets you hone whatever you are planning to roll out (See my post of Dec. 28, 2006: test of the Community Patent Review process.).

Just for the record, a prototype tries out a product, a pilot tries out a service. If some change contemplated by a law department is complicated ? perhaps a new budgeting system for law firms, or has some aspects that no one is sure how best to handle ? perhaps receiving bills electronically, or involves many people and moving parts ? perhaps an intranet that involves law firm contributions, it is wise to test a small but realistic slice of the program.

Full post as published by Law Department Management on April 08, 2009 (boomark / email).