the [non]billable hour

Using Simple Technology isn't Easy

Last week, I was listening to several lawyers complain about how hard it was to convince new associates to learn the technology everyone else in the firm had been using for years. From embracing dictation to using books instead of online tools, newbies "just didn't get it" according the the group of senior attorneys. 

As I tried to explain to them that the technology they utilized, though pretty basic, wasn't easier to use for someone unfamiliar with it, I struggled to find a good example. Today, I finally found one in the unlikeliest of places: an article by a teenager who gave up his iPod for a week and replaced it with his father's 25-year-old Sony Walkman.

The article is hilarious at times, but highlights just how older, "simpler" technology isn't actually easier to use for people unaccustomed to it. Some of the best quotes:

My dad had told me it was the iPod of its day. He had told me it was big, but I hadn't realised he meant THAT big. It was the size of a small book.

It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. That was not the only naive mistake that I made; I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equaliser, but later I discovered that it was in fact used to switch between two different types of cassette.

Personally, I'm relieved I live in the digital age, with bigger choice, more functions and smaller devices. I'm relieved that the majority of technological advancement happened before I was born, as I can't imagine having to use such basic equipment every day.

Let Your Clients Pick Your Next Associates

Seth Godin shares how he narrowed down 27 finalists for his "Alternative MBA" program to just ten participants: he let the applicants decide. Here's how he describes the process:

More than 48,000 people visited the page that described the program and 350 really cool, talented people applied. I picked 27 finalists and all of them flew out to New York to meet each other. This was the most fun I’ve ever had at a cocktail party (it helped that it was at eight o’clock in the morning).

The conversations that day were stunning. Motivated people, all with something to teach, something to learn and something to prove. I asked each person to interview as many other people as they could. After three hours, I asked everyone to privately rank their favorite choices... “who would you like to be in the program with you?”

After they left, I tallied up the results. It was just as you might predict: nine or ten people kept coming up over and over in the top picks. I had crowdsourced the selection, and the crowd agreed. (It turns out that the people they picked were also the people I would have picked).

On January 20th, the most selective (one in 40 got in) MBA program in the world got started. Since then, they’ve never failed to live up to my hopes.

What if your firm choose its associates this way, by letting the applicants choose the others they'd like to work with? Or be even bolder, and bring your applicants in to spend a day with a mixture of your best clients -- and let the clients decide!

Twitter Presentation for LegalTech West Coast

I'm off tomorrow for Incisive Media's LegalTech West Coast. I'm speaking about Twitter on a four-person panel, so my time will be limited. Here are the slides I'm going to use to support my presentation. I'd love your feedback.

A Twitter How-To in Seven Easy Steps

What's Your Type?

I ran across Matthew Butterick's wonderful Typography for Lawyers site today and wanted to share it here. Matthew's a typographer turned civil litigator who started the site to help lawyers write prettier -- if not better.

Why does typography matter?

When you show up to make an oral argument, you make sure that you present yourself as professionally and persuasively as possible. Similarly, your written documents should reflect the same level of attention to typography.

I highly recommend you add this to your reading list. Now, if I could just stop hitting the space bar twice after each period.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day, everyone.  Here's a presentation full of "Lessons Learned" that uses pictures I've taken of my daughter, Gracie.  Enjoy!

Tired of Talking About the Weather?

Here's a great collection of conversation starters from CanTeach.  Organized helpfully in categories of "What is..." "What if..." "What do you think..." etc., I'd take a quick look at these next time you've got a get together and want to come up with something for everyone to talk about besides the weather or their occupation.

Meet me in Los Angeles

Heading next week to Incisive Media's upcoming LegalTech West Coast, which takes place June 24-25 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.  I'm going to be reprising my role on the Twitter panel June 25th at 2:15 pm with Kevin O'Keefe.  Joining us will be Denise Howell and Nina Goldberg (links to their Twitter pages), and the moderator will be the incomparable Monica Bay.

I'm thinking about a Tweetup/PubCrawl along the lines of the one we did at Techshow for the evening of the 25th.  Anybody interested?

Ten Rules of the New Web

I just returned from the fantastic Missouri Solo and Small Firm Conference, where I led a session (with Reid Trautz) unofficially titled the New Web for Lawyers.  We talked Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Blogs.  Here are some of "Rules" we discussed:

1.  “Social media" isn’t rocket science.  It's just sharing who you are, what you do, and what you think with friends, colleagues and clients online.

2.  LinkedIn is: "Where are you working?" Facebook is: "What are you doing?" Twitter is: "What are you thinking?"

3.  Ever thought it would be cool to be invisible?  Ignore Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and to a vast number of your potential clients, you will be. 

4.  Want to understand the value of being active online?  Ask the guy standing in the corner by himself at your next networking event how many friends he’s made.

5.  First impressions are no longer made in person.  People want to get to know you before they meet you -- and the place they go is the web.  Are you there, and what kind of first impression do you make?

6.  Just because you are “friends” with someone online doesn’t mean they’d recognize you in a crowd of three people.  Make your online connections the start of relationships, not the extent of them.

7.  Unless you measure the value of your real friendships by business you receive from them, it is unfair to hold your online friends to a higher standard.

8.  The only thing you’ll get from your online friends are their updates… unless you ask them for more.

9.   Before Facebook, what happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas.  Now, what happens in Vegas can impact your business.  Be careful on Facebook, but ignore it at your peril.

10.  The most important social media tool is the telephone.  Reaching out to online friends can turn them into real ones.

If you'd like to see more Ten Rules posts, you can check them all out here.  If you'd like to read ideas like these as I develop them, follow me on Twitter.

Meet Me in Missouri

I'm headed down to Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks this week for the Missouri Solo and Small Firm Conference to speak about marketing, innovation, technology and the web.  There will be over 900 lawyers there this year -- which makes it the largest solo and small firm conference in the country.

If you'll be there, be certain to say hello.  If you can't make it, I'll be covering as much as I can on Twitter and will be using the hashtag #mossfc

Website overhaul preview.

Does it look like me?

Looking for Cool Ways to Connect with Clients? -(STOP)-

Telegramstop is a company that will send an old-time looking telegram to anyone in the world for under five bucks.  Could be a cool, retro way to connect with some clients or friends.

The Math of Justice

I'm a big fan of Craig Damrauer's New Math site.  He combines simple text and visuals with math to describe sometimes complicated concepts.  Here's his latest:



And my favorite:

Get Up and Think

Sitting at your desk trying to solve a complicated problem?  You might be better off getting out of your chair and moving around.  In this study, researchers found that, "a person's ability to solve a problem can be influenced by how he or she moves."  In other words, our minds and bodies can work together to help us solve problems:

The new findings offer new insight into what researchers call "embodied cognition," which describes the link between body and mind, Lleras said.

"People tend to think that their mind lives in their brain, dealing in conceptual abstractions, very much disconnected from the body," he said. "This emerging research is fascinating because it is demonstrating how your body is a part of your mind in a powerful way. The way you think is affected by your body and, in fact, we can use our bodies to help us think."

Next time you've got a problem to solve, get up off your butt, move around a bit, and you might find that your body helps your brain find the answer.

Ten Rules for Conference Vendors

In March, I shared Ten Rules for Conference Attendees.  As the spring and summer conference seasons heat up, I've put together Ten Rules for Conference Vendors.  Here they are:

1.  If the only way you can sell your value proposition is with a white paper, you don't have a value proposition.

2.  You do not earn my attention by giving me a pen. You earn it by solving a problem I can't solve without you.

3.  The more your booth looks like everyone else's the more I think your product does what everyone else’s does, too.

4.  Don’t get offended if I don’t believe your product will do what you promise.  I’ve been burned before by people who sounded and looked a lot like you.

5.  Everyone working your booth should have a 7 word answer to the question “What do you do?”  The first three words of that answer should be “We help you…”

6.  The number of words on your booth is inversely proportional to the likelihood I’ll read any of them.

7.  These five words should NEVER appear on your booth: Trusted, Leading, Innovative, Premier, and Unique.  If they do, you probably aren’t.

8.  Dump the booth babes.  If I can’t trust you to make good decisions about your marketing, how can I trust you to make good decisions about serving me?

9.  Your product’s benefits are not as different from your competitors’ as you believe them to be.  Instead of selling me “unique” features, sell me outstanding service.

10.  Capture my attention before you capture my contact information.  A one-dollar USB drive in exchange for a year of emails and telephone calls is not a fair trade.

You can read the rest of my 10 Rules Posts here. 

Ten Rules of Networking

Networking events are part and parcel of a business person's life.  Next time you find yourself at a networking event, keep in mind these Ten Rules, and the people you meet will thank me:

1.  “Network” isn’t something you do, it is something you build.

2.  Meeting someone for five minutes at a networking event does not entitle you to become their “friend” on Facebook. Ever!  Feel free to send them a LinkedIn invite, though.

3.  It takes more time to recover from a weak handshake than it does to learn to give a firm one.

4.  Your life story is far more interesting to you than to someone you've just met -- and you've already heard it before.

5.  Stories that start with, “This one time, I almost ….” are boring as hell.  Learn to embrace experiences instead of avoiding them.

6.  Never enter a conversation at networking event with more than half a drink in your hand. Needing a refill is great excuse to leave.

7.  Asking someone "What do you do?" w/in a minute of meeting suggests your interest in them depends on their answer.

8.  When you meet someone for the first time, make certain they don't hear you complain. About anything.

9.  The most underrated skill to possess at networking events is ability to end conversations, not start them.

10.  Never "network" to meet people. Network to help people.

You can read the rest of my 10 Rules Posts here.  I'll see you at the next networking event!