About eDiscoveryPM.com
The mission at eDiscoveryPM.com is to create and deliver value within the e-discovery industry. Right now eDiscoveryPM.com exists primarily to support the marketing, sale, and distribution of the book Project Management in Electronic Discovery. In time, this site will also serve as a resource for individuals in the e-discovery, litigation and legal support industry who have an interest in project management.
What is Project Management?
Project management is the structured application of skill, knowledge, tools and techniques to organize activities and bring about a desired outcome that meets a project or business need. While this may seem abstract, it is really quite simple: In the business world, even in a professional service field like the legal industry, there are business needs or goals that an organization may have interest in achieving. Organizations engage the person with the right skills, knowledge and talent to achieve these objectives and manage the necessary work. That person is a project manager. Project managers use their industry experience, education and training to complete tasks and the overall project work. They understand the resources, tools and workflows necessary. They are able to interact with people and organizations to perform the actual work. But project management is not a single “thing” or practice. It is not a specific tool that one simply picks up and transposes over the work in a particular industry. Rather, it is an operational theory and series of practices; a way of thinking; a methodical, disciplined approach to outcome-oriented work. There are principles, defined practices, tools and techniques involved, but more than any one thing, project management is an organizational tool. It is a framework that facilitates efficiency, quality, cost, and risk containment. Project management in the context of legal support also involves leadership of people, building sound processes, and the use of technology.
What is Electronic Discovery?
Electronic discovery is the digital equivalent of traditional legal discovery procedures in connection with a legal action, lawsuit or investigation. In the past, during discovery the parties’ exchange relevant documents and information in paper form. In electronic discovery, the parties’ obligation is to collect, review and produce electronically stored information (ESI). This is no small task given that most documents today originate from a computer. The volume of ESI that organizations around the globe create has grown astronomically. Electronic discovery or e-discovery, then, is the management of the discovery processes related to producing electronic documents in litigation.
Why merge Project Management and Electronic Discovery?
Project management principles are ideally applicable to the management of e-discovery projects. They are equally appropriate to legal support operations because many of the processes and tasks are easily standardized. Application of project management to e-discovery projects is particularly appropriate given the repetitive and dependent tasks, the variety of people and organizations involved, and the need to better manage the timing and costs. Discovery is the most time-consuming and expensive aspect of litigation. It makes perfect sense, then, to find more efficient ways to manage the process. The massive volumes of disparate types of information in e-discovery today strongly suggests that the clients for whom e-discovery projects are undertaken will benefit significantly from the use of project management in electronic discovery.