Lean Six Sigma at Your Firm: Transportation

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This blog post "Lean Six Sigma at Your Firm: Transportation" from Debbie Foster, Manager Partner at Affinity Consulting Group, is part of a lean six sigma series from the Columbus Bar Association Blog.

Transportation is all about the movement of information or materials from one place to another. Paper files tend to be at the heart and soul of transportation waste in a law firm. It all starts when deciding whether you are going to have, or continue to have paper files, and understanding what purpose they serve in the firm. There are quite a few challenges that go along with paper files: two people cannot be looking at it at the same time, they get lost, left at home, in the car, in the conference room, etc. When we ask professionals who work in firms that rely heavily on paper files where they waste the most time, the answer is often, “looking for paper files.”

So, think about your paper file situation. Do you really need paper files? If you say yes, then I would strongly encourage you to ensure there is nothing, except an occasional “original,” in a paper file that is not also accessible electronically. Why? The only thing more wasteful than keeping paper files is paying to store them. If you must keep them, make sure you can destroy them when the case is closed.

In addition to paper files, there is transportation waste in electronic forms as well. Think about those emails we all get where we have to scroll down and read the 10 emails below to get caught up, only to realize we should have been the one to get the original email and lots of time would have been saved. Or, how about having to update contact information in more than one system. All of these can be classified as transportation waste.

Want to learn more about the kinds of waste that kill law firm productivity? Check out our Cut the Crap ebook below or request a consultation

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Debbie Foster

Written by Debbie Foster

As Managing Partner, Debbie spends her time running Affinity Consulting Group, management consultants to law firms. Debbie's role includes working with clients, helping to launch new law firms, and speaking to legal professionals at law firm retreats and events all over the place. Her talks focus on fun topics like Law Firm Leadership, Effective Communication, Why Process Matters, Time Management and lots more. Debbie is passionate about all things law firm and legal department-related and she prides herself in sharing what she knows as much as possible. Debbie’s ultimate goal is to help people run firms that intentionally become more and more successful.

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