I work with a ton of visual tools and canvases, so in this short format, I feature one selected resource and briefly note how it could enhance your practice.
Setting priorities for standardization and automation is not easy. Within any organization, there are always lots of different potential and ongoing projects and processes. But the resources (be it budget or capacity) are never infinite.
This is when we need to make informed decisions about where do we act first, and create a roadmap reflecting our needs and priorities.
The below is a simplified matrix that you can use when deciding which system changes to implement first. This can come handy especially in legal operations context.
In this standardization priority matrix, the overall value of the specific issue to the core business is weighted against how much resources it is taking:
- High value and high volume items – these should be tackled first as they are both critical and capable of creating roadblocks
- High value and low volume items – while important to the business, their low volume or frequency score may mean that a more lighter approach to standardization could have a good cost benefit ratio
- Low value and high volume – while they are not necessarily key to the core business, these still need to get done and can overwhelm the legal function
- Low value and low volume – here you probably should not dedicate too much attention to automating or opting for very lightweight approach
Value and volume
The tricky part is how do you define value for the core business. You can do it in a variety of ways: for example by putting a price tag on a concept or assigning it ethics or reputation points. By combining these and more factors that are important to your organization, you could give it a score, for example on a scale 1 to 10.
As to the frequency / volume, the simplest measure can be time or the cost of outsourcing to external providers. Again, it can be a good idea to determine a volume score on a scale.
No matter which approach you take, make sure that you write it down and apply it uniformly.
Other similar tools to priority setting are the Eisenhower Matrix (urgent / important) or the Impact-Effort Matrix.
Next steps
Once you have the priorities in place, make sure to design the solution to your challenge and to prepare yourself a change management plan.
Enjoy and let me know if you use any other tools to set priorities for transformation!
