We’re all familiar with the scary statistics that get thrown around in the media on the underperformance of change initiatives. Geneca predict that 75% of business and IT leaders anticipate their software projects to fail and yet technology is set to have the greatest impact on law firms in the next five years.
Working with legal IT and Operations leaders every day gives me a unique and privileged insight into their challenges. I see firms whose growth is hampered by legacy IT infrastructure and many say their existing systems are neither agile or scalable enough to support future expansion. Their teams are typically managing a complex portfolio comprising hundreds of programmes and projects, often alongside a larger firm-wide transformation.
It’s hardly surprising that, with so much on the agenda, many programmes stall or over-run due to the sheer pressure on resources and the lack of prioritisation. I’m often asked for advice at the point where timelines are expanding, costs are mounting and confidence has started to go south.
The holy grail is injecting stalled projects with focus, pace and a determination to deliver. But is project acceleration really something that can be achieved?
At Nine Feet Tall, we encourage our clients to look at what they can do differently to increase the momentum of their projects by going through these six steps:
- Prioritise your portfolio
- Phase to deliver early benefits
- Take a hard look at your team and suppliers
- Build a business case around flexible resourcing
- Apply ‘just the right amount of governance’
- Ready the firm for swift adoption
Re-igniting projects and accelerating delivery enables IT and Operations leaders in law firms to demonstrate value, realise the benefits faster and move on. It is almost certainly a reality and not a pipe dream.
For more information on accelerating project delivery for law firms, see our new white papers
