Product vs. Process
Nothing great is built in a day. Nothing is built without momentum. Whether body, mind and spirit, without movement there is no creation. If there is no movement, there is “stasis” and nothing is done. In fact, there is an idea that there is no “stasis”, as everything moves! so by that logic, stasis is to go backward or be left behind (something to think about).
So, maybe I should say: Nothing great is built without forward momentum.
Here’s the problem, we have now been bombarded for over a century with products: complete, "done for you", "all-in-one", "ready-made".
The process, the behind the scenes of "how it's made" is largely hidden for the sake of convenience. I believe this habit in society and the rampant consumerism it has generated is what has dulled our minds from recognizing the important of a good process. As we grow to see ourselves as creators with tools at our disposal to generate value to the larger cohort, we need to re-learn and remember what good process looks like, and train ourselves to re-see the process in things, rather than only the product in things.
As lawyers and leaders in law, we are inseparable from process. We are the beating heart of the process where the client receives the outcome of our process. But often times for principal and associate alike, it feels largely cloudy. Sometimes process is cast aside and tradition is relied on (even celebrated). Other times, it is withheld as a power play (heinous, i know) but usually it is just a maze, not unlike the Fog of War young lawyers go through in their period of legal study.
Why process is everyone’s responsibility
Process is the way in which the world works. Most people contemplating the world: their careers, their families and relationships, their health, their passions, will recognize that none of it is “complete”, it is a journey, a process.
And, if you were to break down what forms your perception of the forward momentum of your career, family, relationships, health etc. you would recognize that it universally involves other people.
You are not “you” in a vacuum, but you are your “self” among a organic reality of “others” to which you compare and contrast.
This is powerful.
So, what’s the point here? How do we tap into this power?
Well, we collaborate. We consult. We discuss. We explore. We plan. We execute. For great things to be built, as they are being built everyday, we all rely on a network of relationships, common goals and exertion across different aspects of our work in order to produce.
But my point in this brief post here is to think more about “the product” (whether a material product, or end goal, or execution of strategy) be the “process”, in other words a point on a continuum.
A pure focus on products (as consumer or creator) limits perspective. It casts everything that is not directly product related out from the conversation and leaves out significant perspective.
A focus on process on the other hand opens the mind to possibility and other people’s ideas. It allows for wisdom, robust thought, effective creativity, macro and micro views, simple and complex, “zoom in” and “zoom out”. Expands your view into concurrent timelines and keeps sight of an overarching continuum. It allows for nuance and that nuance is filled with the diversity of people as drivers of the process.
How does this fit into a world of technology and automation?
I hear a counterpoint here and I don’t suppose it’s the only one. someone might say: “If people are at the fore as drivers of process, then why is there such a lean on automating processes?”.
Good point. It does seem paradoxical but perhaps it makes more sense when we look at what processes we wish to automate (at first instance) and how much time and energy we save to spend on processes which we don’t wish to automate.
You see, the things we wish to automate - or perhaps I should say would be most suitable for automation in the first phase, is the menial manual labour that does not require too much oversight. As an example, the time we spent/spend at the copying machine makes less and less sense as we move forward (and so does charging the client per page copied/printed etc.) If we can leverage automatic ingest of information and apply preliminary machine learning (available now) before we spend our time on it, we are given less time to “moving papers and filing” and more time towards doing the delicate and human work of solving other peoples problems.
Ultimately, automation removes previously laborious tasks and frees up that time and resource for us to focus on the value generating work within our scope. In the continuum of transformation toward the future of law, this becomes a large part of our work as a profession.
Normal isn’t natural
Product focus and product consumption breeds product thinking. That’s why we find ourselves stuck, unable to break into new ways of thinking and delivery. It’s time to re-frame our mindset and see things with some fluidity, considering concepts, goals and ideas along a process of change rather than a "done for you", "all-in-one", "ready-made" product. It may be normal these days, but it isn’t natural and that discomfort is rearing its head around the world today.
So: Nothing great is built without forward momentum. There are many interweaving narratives and lives being woven at any given time. Imagine being able to tap into this in your cohort - to capitalise on the inherent capacity of your peers and build something new, build something better and eventually: build something great.
As always, the future of law is in our hands 🔥
Q.
Photo by Vivek Dhanda on Unsplash