Service Excellence: A Guide To Superior eDiscovery Project Management

Most eDiscovery providers can deliver the basic components of service. They have the software and hardware that allows them to process your data and host it in a proprietary or off-the-shelf application. Some vendors can process your data more quickly than others, some hosting platforms have nicer bells and whistles than others, but every vendor should be able to provide those basics.

What truly distinguishes an average supplier from an exceptional one in the world of eDiscovery is client service and project management. The inevitable bumps and curves in the road of a project are profoundly frustrating when communication is poor. With excellent, assertive and timely communication those bumps and curves can be anticipated and tolerated.

Perfection may be a goal in eDiscovery, but it’s rarely a reality. EDiscovery consumers need and deserve strong project management and communication – the stakes in big litigation are high and the costs of errors can grow when communication is late, unclear or inaccurate.

Excellent client service and project management in eDiscovery requires attention to detail as well as an understanding of the “big picture” goals. An approach that comprehends both the forest and the trees is required. Excellent project management should embody certain key qualities, and superior service is always marked by the presence of these characteristics.

Responsive. Your project manager should never let an email or a call go more than 30 minutes without a response during business hours. We all expect attentiveness and responsiveness in restaurants, and supermarkets, at the gym or the dry cleaners, and everywhere we purchase goods or services. Why would a consumer of hundreds of thousands of dollars in eDiscovery services expect anything less? Responsiveness is the first priority for any eDiscovery project manager.

Honest. Your project manager should be truthful about capacity and turnaround. More importantly, he or she should keep you fully informed of any issues or situations that have arisen that can affect your compliance or production in any way. Good communication eschews vagueness and states facts clearly without avoiding or obscuring difficult messages and truths.

Inquisitive. Your project manager should never be shy about asking questions. At the most basic level this means asking fundamental questions about requirements, deadlines, specifications and budgets. At its highest level this means asking the right questions to understand the ultimate business purpose behind a request, so that the project manager may help the client find the most efficient solution. A project manager who is afraid to ask questions will never be an effective advocate for the client because he or she won’t fully understand the client’s needs.

Organized. Your project manager should understand your goals and anticipate the requirements. Communication should reflect that overall organization and sense of structure. At the start of your project, you should be asked for specs and requirements up front – you should never have to repeat yourself, nor should you field multiple requests for basic information. An organized project manager knows exactly what they need to know and asks the right questions to get the information. In addition, when a good project manager is responding with information or a report, that communication should be clearly organized.

Timely. Responses and deliverables should come exactly when promised if not sooner. If a deadline can’t be met, your project manager should inform you just as soon as he or she is able to do so. If a response is promised by a certain time, the client should never have to ask for an update at that time. Nothing makes me cringe more than a message from a client at 4:10 PM asking for the 4:00 update they were expecting. No client should have to chase their project manager for a timely response.

Concise. Communication should always be clear and simple. When communicating with clients, every project manager should observe the “three sentence” rule – you can never rely on anyone reading more than three sentences of any email. I was once prone to issue long, technical explanations to clients, only to find that they didn’t seem to have understood the details. I instituted a personal rule that any message that couldn’t be said in three sentences or less needed to be communicated in multiple emails. The increase in comprehension was immediate.

Flexible. Rigidity has no place in big eDiscovery projects. Deadlines, goals and strategies change constantly. A good project manager will always try to find a way to accommodate your needs, will always attempt to find creative solutions, and will welcome the opportunity to find an innovative solution for your needs.

Your eDiscovery budget should buy more than basic, adequate service. There are dozens of vendors who can provide the fundamental eDiscovery services. Look for these hallmarks of excellent project management to ensure you’re getting the service you deserve.