Email handling and timekeeping from email-based work have been a challenge to lawyers since its inception. The out of control inbox has always plagued lawyers. Because of the pandemic, email challenges have become even greater. In just a few weeks, WFH has already created \will challenges to productivity and efficiency.
First, sit down, think, and map out the way you are doing things and then figure out how to do it better. You need to understand how you do things and why in order to figure out a way to do them better.
Second, look at technology solutions out there that can automate some of the human labor inherent in the email process.
An AI email management solution, such as Zero, addresses increasing efficiency by eliminating DOWNTIME (waste), which is one of the pillars of Lean.
An AI email management solution also addresses another pillar of Lean: respect for people. Now more than ever, we must respect people’s time and efforts in working from home given the new reality with the COVID-19 pandemic. Offering your employees, a way to comply with their duties and responsibilities, while offering the shareholders a way to capture the time spent on email management, shows respect for all involved: the organization, the employees, and the client.
It is interesting to point out that Lean started back during WWII efforts, we needed to figure out how to manufacture faster than they ever imagined. While everyone refers to the main pillar of Lean as being "increase value by reducing waste," the less talked about the pillar of Lean (really brought to light by Toyota Production System), is respect for people. Offering employees who are going above and beyond what they signed up with their new WFH reality, methods, and tools to be able to provide services to their employer and their clients, fits squarely within the human pillar of Lean.
