High Impact Projects that Promote Scalability

Anyone can tell you “create KPIs” or “streamline processes”, but if you do not know where to start or how that may look, what is the likelihood that you will get off the blank page? Scalability does not just happen – it takes intentional design and disciplined application. If you are going to spend time that you already do not have, you must have clarity on exactly what you are doing and why. Employing this methodical approach allows you to meet operational needs because it alleviates the mental load and prevent biting off too much at one time.

What makes a project “high impact”?

A high impact project has an output that improves an operational workflow. The outcome – the streamlined workflow – must be measurable. The degree of the impact is realized in the compounding of time as a resource. Think about nutrition and exercise. Making one change – like getting 30 more minutes of activity per day – is relatively low demand with a visible result, and this positive reinforcement increases the likelihood that other changes are made.

To design an effective, high impact project, you will want it to have the following characteristics:

1. Objective. The objective is the outcome you want to affect by completing the project. It answers the “why” for the project. Putting the objective into a form that your business units and collaborators can easily understand and that reflect a common good are where to start. The ability to scale revolves around resource allocation – time, money, and people.
2. Benefits. There should always be more benefits to doing the project than just the objective or deliverable: what does pursuing this project do for the organization? The benefits are about people and relationships, or the “who”. Benefits are what you are going to bring up when pitching the project or seeking sponsorship for the project. You are going to spend more time “doing” than presenting the final project. When the organization sees some type of “return” throughout the project, the project is less likely to be delayed or shelved.
3. Deliverable. The deliverable is the “what” you will have at the end of the project, or the output. People often conflate “outcome” and “output” – “outcome” is a state change. The deliverable is how you know you are done. The “definition of done” is a project management term that focuses on controlling the scope and preventing scope creep. A deliverable with milestones is the top tier differentiator for what gets completed – and what has more impact – because progress is tangible. In a similar respect to enumerating benefits, the power of a visible project that people can see taking shape is very empowering.
4. The format of the deliverable is the “how” that takes into heavy consideration the “who”. You can build the most brilliant tool, but if it does not get used then it is a waste of time. That means really understanding the use case and main audience, and designing to the common denominator. There is a reason why in so many organizations, legal technology implementations fail to garner widespread adoption in favor of spreadsheets. It is not because people are too set in their ways; it is because you have not given how they work enough consideration. I separate the deliverable from the format because there can be so many different ways to get there. Think about the last time you assembled furniture. The typed instructions may not be helpful to you, but you can follow the pictures.
5. Starting point. Building scalable systems with a serious of high impact projects is nothing new. You probably have so many ideas already. So ask yourself what is stopping me? Often the answer is the fight to get off the blank page. Remember: scalability is resource alignment. You are not inventing from scratch; you are collecting and stacking the building blocks. There are thousands of songs that are basically the same 4 chords. In this same respect, you are identifying the chords to your project.
6. One of the key things I look for when evaluating whether or not a project is worthwhile is the off boarding and maintenance of it. If you have never blown glass before, all the technique in the world can go wrong when you try to separate the project from the punty (the iron rod it is on). Not every high impact project must have longevity; if it does not have longevity, then it must be modular in the sense that it can be a component to a later project. Who is going to be responsible for maintaining the deliverable if it needs to be updated? How are updates going to be communicated?

Example Project: SME Map

My favorite high impact project to promote scalability is the Point-of-Contact or Subject Matter Expert Map (“SME Map”). What makes this project so uniquely valuable is that it is useful at any scale of organization. Think about it this way: how would have your experience as a new hire been different if you had a map of who the best person was to ask for a given subject? How many times did you go to someone you assumed would be a good fit because of their title and then they had to redirect you elsewhere? How much easier would be it to build future project groups if you have this reference?

1. Objective. Accelerate decision-making speed.
   Getting matters to move faster means getting to the right person, whether that be who has the decision-making authority and/or who knows how stuff actually works. For metrics, you will be looking at turnaround times and view counts.
2. Benefits.
   1. Build relationships. Asking people what they are good at is an easy way to get people to “yes” when you need them for a project. Even in this small way, recognizing people for what they are good at and leaning into their strengths builds that sense of belonging.
   2. Control scope. Legal often ends up absorbing many tasks due to a lack of an approval/feedback process. This means things often look like they are with Legal much longer because Legal is waiting on someone else to weigh in. Partnering with SMEs and training them on risk identification from Legal’s standpoint allows Legal’s core function – risk management – to be compounded.
   3. Establish expertise. Everyone gets to see how you fit in the organization and establishes you as a key collaborator. You are not there to be the “no” vote, you are designing the literal map of how to get to “yes”.
   4. Identify gaps. At every stage of the SME Map project, you are going to see the benefit of identifying gaps while capturing institutional knowledge. The loss of institutional knowledge is a business continuity risk that will be realized at some point; to manage this risk, your options are to mitigate it or accept it. Compliance, cross-training, complementary skills – all of these are helped by knowing where the gaps (and overload) are.
3. Deliverable: Matrix of decision-makers and their subject-matter expertise.
   The toughest aspect of the SME Map is getting to a Definition of Done: people are complex, roles can be very broad, and highly-talented people are good at so many things. But remember: our objective is to accelerate decision-making speed. If you think about a RACI matrix, you are focused on the “A” first – who is Accountable.
4. Format: Intranet page.
   An Intranet page is likely going to work for most, and you can optimize based on the organization’s size and/or decision-making decentralization. For larger organizations, you can build a chat bot that can factor in elements like job descriptions to answer questions of “who is the best contact for x”. It is more important to understand how people seek out and identify information quickly: categories and keywords. Make it searchable and legible, not overly polished.
5. Starting Point. Plan on reaching out to HR, Marketing, and IT; as a last resort, you can at least start with the organization chart.
   One of my rules is “never start from a blank page”. Outreach should be the reflex. What you will almost certainly find are pieces of this same exercise having been done but across functions. Think in terms of modules. Start with an area that has the clearest responsibilities first. Take a simple Finance Department as an example; there are going to be clear categories like Accounts Payable/Receivable, budgets/forecasting, banking relations (investments/debt), tax compliance, and audits. Thinking in those categories, identify who is accountable for decisions or has high fidelity subject matter expertise.
6. Update as part of staffing changes (onboarding and off boarding checklists) and compliance (reviews of policies and procedures).
   The value of a deliverable like the SME Map is how often it is used. How often it gets used is going to be determined by its reliability and accuracy. References have to be maintained and updated. This is not something that Legal wants to own. It is also not realistic to have it be continuously monitored or have individuals edit it. Think about Administrative rule changes: even though there are legal precedents being set or overridden throughout the year, Federal agencies usually have an annual update. Similarly, there are times when these updates make the most sense to do, like staffing changes.

For a project to be truly high impact there is going to be a lot of collaboration. Have a North Star. At the beginning of every meeting agenda or communication about this project, I want you to reiterate the “why” like you are reassuring the first transoceanic immigrants that there is land when all they see is sea. There will be times when people (including you) get off track, such as when having too many SME categories attached to one person because someone’s role is very broad or they are very senior. That is your cue to bring it back to the North Star. Does including that subject area make it easier or harder to reach a decision? How common is that coming up as something that needs a decision in other functions/departments? Can we go “up” a level in the subject and still be accurate? Remember the scalability is resource allocation, so reminding everyone that this project is designed to accelerate the decision-making for the 90%+ use cases, not the fringe cases, will bring focus. Focus means the project gets done. In fact, you want there to be room for the project’s outcome to be improved later. That iterative development means that that impact is carried forward into other forms and use cases.

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