Scrum in-law

How to implement agile software delivery in law?

I have worked for a national law firm who deal with many different types of law for many years. I have worked waterfall, agile (scrum/kanban) and some, unconventional methods to deliver software solutions to a vast internal user base, but how do you get it to tick?

The answer is short..... collaborate, be transparent and focus on the goal.

Always remember, that delivering usable software is what we are paid to do. We aren't paid to work agile or scrum so allow these values and principles to serve us, not the other way round.

Many will say that this applies to all industries, and i'm sure that it does to varying degrees but law is in some ways, unique.

What makes law different?

We are talking about an industry where, in a lot of cases, human touch and expertise of the lawyers is absolutely key to achieving positive outcomes for the customer. Yes, in tech we like to automate and that should always be a goal of ours when possible and sensible, but if you are dealing with a personal injury claim for a child who suffered a catastrophic brain injury, or representing a client who has suffered paralysis due to clinical negligence, this may require more of a personable service, and the lawyer is very aware of this.

Promoting the need for automation where we can and pushing this approach can be difficult, but essential for tech to be of benefit. Law firms do need to continue to move with the times and become more lean and efficient but under the right circumstances. I see this as being difficult in a good way

Over the years working in law, the fee earners, paralegals, solicitors etc.... invest a great deal of care and pride in the work that they do to achieve the best possible outcomes for their client. They are the experts and like to use their skills to fulfil their professional obligation to the client, who on many occasions, have built great rapport with.

I believe that a big part of getting the business stakeholder onside is to really demonstrate the benefits of tech solutions, while allowing the stakeholders to have transparency in the solution being built. Involve the stakeholders and take the journey together. A common ground can be formed in order to implement solutions that utilise the expertise of the lawyers and the efficiency that tech can offer.

Back to the task at hand. Where does Agile / Scrum come into this......?

Be transparent - A key component of scrum is transparency. In scrum, due to value being delivered in increments, the stakeholders are constantly engaged with the solution, be it in demo's (showcases/show and tells), sprint reviews, product backlog refinement sessions or as part of the initial analysis. There are plenty of engagement points.

Inspect and adapt - Agile principles and scrum framework promotes inspection and adaption. In law, things change often and when a decision is made, it may need to be made based on a number of dependencies, not just the end user. Compliance, finance and counsel may all have a hand in the end solution and may need to make a change late in to a sprint that was not factored in until demo. It happens, right?....ideally not, but scrum allows us to adapt quickly and still meet our goals.

If it is ready....ship it - There is no reason why we cannot release multiple times within a sprint if the product is ready. Doing this promotes and displays an agile mindset and focus on delivery. There will be times that we cannot deliver as planned. We may have run into issues more complex then we had estimated, the stakeholders may not be ready. In this scenario, release in the first week of the next sprint. There is nothing to say that we cannot do this, it is our job to. Having seen the effects of sprint timed release windows/cycles on delivery teams and stakeholders, I would advise against.

Customer collaboration - Have the courage to advise the stakeholder on what the tech can do to help overcome issues and optimise solutions, and listen to their needs. The art of the possible comes to mind. A person does not know what they know until they know it, or in our case, advised, and this works both ways. Working closely with the stakeholders ensures that we can deliver the best possible solutions and also eases the stakeholders concerns in using tech based solutions.

Remain focused on the goal and get the job done. It is no secret that agile/scrum does not just work overnight. Improve the process and be comfortable with not always working to the book, as long as what you do is with the aim of delivering value. Coach the team, bring focus and motivation, start winning and celebrate our success's.

Scrum is a lightweight framework, which means that much is not prescribed. So if the squad is still maturing, abide by agile values and release the shackles. The team needs to be absolutely focused on the goal. This being said, the goal of the team should never be to 'be agile' or 'do scrum', that will come with the right coaching and working to the scrum framework. We must remain focused on our goal, and the goal is to deliver value continuously. Ironically, having this focus will inherently mature the teams mindset to become agile. Hit the goal, get the job done.....but always consider risk and do it in a sensible way.

So, as i said, in short.....collaborate, be transparent and focus on the goal