I’ve had quite a lot of interest in my experiences of introducing Kanban to a law firm several years ago. Although I couldn’t capture any photos of the card wall due to client confidentiality I’ve pulled together the following diagram to illustrate the key features of the Kanban system. It is from memory so may not be entirely accurate, but it should capture the essence of the system.

Outcomes

• Improved visibility of bottlenecks across the whole practice
• Customer satisfaction improved due to improved responsiveness
• Practice staff swarmed to resolve bottlenecks and blockers
• Much better appreciation of the working state of the entire practice in a single view
• Daily stand-ups for Lawyers, Case Managers, Paralegals
• Cultural shift – from individual partners and fee-earners to a wider capability resulting in the whole outweighing the sum of the parts
• Reduced stress, closer team spirit, created a “buzz” around the practice