Your sex is on your timesheet** as View announces abandoning of abandoning of timesheets

View has confirmed the launch of a game changing app that guarantees time recording 24 hours a day.

Leveraging machine learning, AI, block chain, VR and patented algorithms, View Legal is excited to announce today the abandoning of its previous abandonment of timesheets.

Arguably, the single biggest criticism of timesheets has been their complete inability to track all chargeable and non-chargeable time throughout an entire day.

Now, thanks to a NextGen app developed by View Legal, with the mentoring of a number of key thought leaders in the VeraSage community, the heritage issues with time recording have been completely solved using an agile ideation of core competency capabilities and lean design thinking.

The app, which in its first market iteration will only be available via smartwatches and View Goggles, uses bespoke technology to analyse brain activity every six minutes all day, every day.

The sophisticated algorithms underpinning the app deconstruct each of the 1,440 blocks of potentially chargeable time each 24 hour period via a cloud-based application that integrates seamlessly into the firm’s practice management ecosystem automatically data matching the brain activity with the relevant client matter.

Via a separate API enabled plug-in, the relevant hourly rate is then applied, and the charging of time is instantaneously uploaded to a central client portal allowing real-time invoicing.

Perhaps the most innovative component of the new app however is that because all team members will be immersed in the identical product piece, blended billing rates will also for the first time be able to be captured and applied with complete and absolute integrity.

The possibilities for increased utilisation and leveraged rates are exponential given the app’s ability to unlock access to chargeable units during activities previously thought to be impossible using heritage time tracking solutions.

The app, partially inspired by last year’s launch of Time$hits, shows how quickly technology is moving in the professional services space. The ability to only track toilet time is now ‘so 2017’ in the shadow of View’s new app.

Firms who have embraced the new app are already raving about huge spikes in chargeable units now that time is being recorded during activities as diverse as yoga, running, meditation and sleeping.

According to one BigLaw managing partner, the ability to compare the performance of lawyers in terms of the number of chargeable units they can rack up while doing activities otherwise ostensibly completely unrelated to the traditional definition of chargeable time has been a paradigm shift for bottom-line profits.

Indeed, one managing partner, who has asked to remain anonymous, said they have introduced a range of additional criteria to weave into the annual performance review for lawyers and partners. The hope - that within three years, they will have minimum performance requirements for sleep generated chargeable units based on the benchmarking that is automatically created by the app each week.

The managing partner went on to say that the definition of nirvana for any equity partner is to be making money while they sleep, and this new app delivers on that dream.

The same managing partner also dismissed allegations that first appeared recently in publications such as ‘Roll on Friday’ that they would also be demanding a minimum level of chargeable time being recorded during ‘’adult only’’ activities, claiming that the app was not yet sophisticated enough to determine whether the adult only activity involved more than one party, meaning that some BigLaw partners may have an unfair advantage.

This said, future generations of the app are likely to go to this level of insight with the beta testing in a controlled group of senior lawyers that have had a small microchip implanted directly into their brains; thereby eliminating the need to rely on a wrist device that may create misleading readings during certain forms of adult only activity.

The App is exclusively available for purchase using Bitcoin or Ethereum and to learn more, click here: https://youtu.be/leewtnS6Eys

** For trainspotters, the title of today’s post is inspired by the well-known Kings of Leon song ‘Sex on Fire’, see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF0HhrwIwp0

PS: Please note that the app will be formally launched shortly before midday on Sunday 1 April 2018, at which time View will re-embrace filling in timesheets; despite its previous embracing of the #burnthetimesheet mantra.

Pricing on a page (or 3)

Many would be aware of our passion for up front, guaranteed fixed pricing, rather than the traditional time-billing model of most law firms – previous posts explore this in more detail

The firm of the future is in fact the firm of now

Fixed Pricing and Change Orders

Insights on the Journey to Value Pricing

Much of our inspiration in this regard comes from the VeraSage Institute, a revolutionary international think tank which.

For many years VeraSage has been challenging professional services firms to price their services other than with reference to the Marxist derived labour theory of value that is time billing.

The VeraSage Institute founder (and LinkedIn Influencer) Ron Baker was recently in Australia.

View were very fortunate to host Ron present both a webinar and in person workshop. For those who missed the events and would like to access streamed versions of the recordings click here.

For those interested, leading Australian based VeraSage fellow John Chisholm (see - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chisholmjohn) also profiled a sketch note of the workshop or as he described it ‘pricing on a whiteboard’ in one of his recent posts – see - http://www.chisconsult.com/pricing-on-a-whiteboard/

Image credit: Dyan Burgess

The firm of the future is in fact the firm of now

For those that do not otherwise have access to the ALPMA post feed, a recent article by View is extracted below.

The evidence has been collected.

The submissions have been heard.

Judgment has been handed down - the incumbent law firm business model is broken.

The great lawyer bubble

One of the first people to starkly address the fundamental problems at the heart of the legal profession was Stephen Harper and his book 'The Lawyer Bubble'.

The book details why the legal profession, similar to most other professions, will struggle in the short term to reinvent core aspects of their business model, particularly in relation to time billing, in the short term.

While a myriad of reasons are provided, perhaps the most compelling is the fact that universities across the western world have become factories for producing professional service firm graduates, who specialise in the areas rewarded by time billing such as:

• long hours;
• rote learning;
• technology adverse; and
• engrained arrogance, particularly in relation to solutions that undermine the traditional personalised bespoke service offering (such as alternative business models, offshoring, outsourcing and automation).

Catalysts for change
Harper argues that any change to the 'BigLaw' business model from within the profession will require the university system to start rewarding students who are able to demonstrate more innovative attributes than those outlined above.

Just as importantly, the owners of the incumbent firms must themselves create a demand for this style of graduate.

Another leading thinker, Clayton Christensen (in The Innovator's Dilemma), predicts that the prospect of the incumbent firms having the vision to truly cannibalise their existing business model is at best remote.

Maister still matters
While much of Harper’s work was ground-breaking at the time, the framework for many of the answers to what law firms should be doing right now to re-engineer their businesses was provided a generation ago by another US consultant, David Maister.

Maister categorised the delivery of all professional services, including the law, into four broad categories, each of which has the prospect of being highly profitable.

The price is right
The price sensitivity goes from least to most through the following four components:

• unique services (or as Maister describes them ‘brain surgery’);
• experiential services (or as Maister describes them ‘physiotherapy’);
• brand name services (or as Maister describes them ‘nursing’);
• commodity services (or as Maister describes them ‘chemist’).

Arguably, due to the internet, there are two further categories further down the value chain:
wholesale; and
online, with product produced only on demand.

Ultimately, the internet has increased the rate at which all technology disruption has historically taken place.

What the winners do

Winning firms understand that success ultimately depends on being:

• differentiated or unique;
• of demonstrable value; and
• delivered in a way that is difficult to replicate.

Sustaining innovation is ultimately just as important as any disruptive one; the challenge is that both types require different visions, metrics and practices.

The disruptive business model requires funding, resource allocation and working environments that are significantly different from those of the traditional firm.

History doesn’t repeat; although it does rhyme
History shows the vast majority of traditional firms are unable to allocate resources away from the primary revenue source, because of their focus on short-term profitability and the need to avoid any perception that there is a 'cannibalising' of the core business model.

The key to a sustainable and successful business model is being self aware enough to know that unless they cannibalise their existing lines of revenue, competitors certainly will. Further, those competitors will have complete disregard for the ongoing profitability of the incumbent firms.

Primarily due to the embedded restraints of being a start up, innovative firms find ways to:

• monetise ideas quickly;
• minimise upfront cash expenses;
• understand that a product in market is always better than a delay to launch in order to ensure the quality is better - in other words, if you are not embarrassed by version 1 of the solution, you have launched too late;
• recycle and reuse what they have immediate access to; and
• understand that everything can look like a failure during the 'middle part'.

What will the changes look like?
To give some insight to what we believe a ‘firm of the future now' looks like, 10 examples from our business are listed below – five that we have abandoned and five that we have embraced.

Five things abandoned

• Timesheets – with timesheets, all we ever focused on was what was chargeable – without timesheets, we now focus on what is valuable.
• No leave policies – leave policies are a hangover from the industrial age – it is time to move on.

• No individual budgets – while we certainly have team goals, these are never broken down into individual monetary targets. Our targets are aligned around our performance in the eyes of customers. If we get those right, everything else flows (including money).
• No performance reviews – again, a very poor hangover from the industrial age.
• No diversity goals – seeking to mandate minimum percentages of certain genders, cultures, religious beliefs or sexuality disguise much bigger problems with the underlying business model.

Five features embraced

• Guaranteed fixed pricing – the definition of a competent service provider is someone who can devise a scope of work and provide an upfront fixed price that they are willing to refund in full if the customer is not satisfied with the performance.
• ROWE – if you do not know what this is, Google it or see - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROWE and join the movement.
• Solution choreographed teams – we work with whomever and on whatever terms are best to achieve the client’s objectives.
• AAR – again, if you do not know what it is, Google it or see - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After-action_review and embed it into your business today.
• Diversity of thought – when two people in business are constantly of the same opinion, one or more is irrelevant. Raise diversity in every sense of the word and arbitrary politically correct percentages become irrelevant.

As mentioned in previous posts, we began the journey to address many of the challenges of redefining the professional services firm business model over 10 years ago.

For many, the journey has started more recently and we believe it important to share our learnings.

In this regard, there is still time to register for our upcoming Roadshow that will be a full day example of our contribution in this space.

Download the brochure.

Watch the promo video below.

Later in the year, we are excited to be presenting at the 2016 ALPMA Summit, A Blue Print for Change, 7-9 September in Melbourne – see -http://www.alpma.com.au/Summit

Outliers and the Professions

Last week’s post looked at Malcolm Gladwell's latest book.

Interestingly, Gladwell has previously also provided guidance on what types of factors may be of interest to the professions as the foundations of the time billing business model continue to be subject to intense scrutiny.

In particular, in Gladwell's book Outliers (see - http://www.amazon.com/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0316017930), he analysed the 'perfect storm' that allowed the legendary New York legal firms to seemingly come from nowhere and become arguably the western world's most famous and successful law firms.

The analogies given the current changes facing the time billing professions should be clearly identifiable, given the wave of innovative business models enjoying exponential rates of growth across a myriad of industries.

The key factors identified by Gladwell as the criteria for the successful New York lawyers were as follows:

1. be born in 1930 (40 years of age in 1970 when the revolution first began and a 15 year period of experience in takeover work while others were ignoring it); 
2. be an outsider; 
3. have parents who did meaningful work; and 
4. have a strong dose of ingenuity and drive.

As mentioned previously, we began the journey to address many of the challenges of redefining the professional services firm business model over 10 years ago. In this regard, it is exciting to have been selected to present at the 2016 ALPMA Summit, A Blue Print for Change, 7-9 September in Melbourne – see - http://www.alpma.com.au/Summit

For many, the journey has started more recently and we believe it important to share our learnings. Our upcoming July roadshow will be a full day example of this.

For your limited opportunity that lasts less than 2 weeks to access special early bird pricing for our Roadshow, download the brochure here.

Gladwell and the Future of the Professions

Recent posts have looked at recent publications that provide insight into the likely evolution of the time billing business model of most professions.

Another author that provides perspective on this theme is legendary thinker Malcolm Gladwell and his release David and Goliath (see - http://www.amazon.com/David-Goliath-Underdogs-Misfits-Battling/dp/0316204366).

In many respects, the book uses a myriad of practical examples to highlight how the theories underpinning Christensen's innovator's dilemma play through.

The central theme of the book is that the very things that make an incumbent, dominant market leader strong can in fact be their greatest weaknesses with someone who does not play by the rules.

Indeed, while I cannot easily see it referenced in Gladwell's book, the famous quote by Mark Twain is reinforced many times –

The best swordsman in the world does not need to fear the second best swordsman. The person for him to be afraid of is some ignorant antagonist who has never had a sword in his hand before, does not do the thing he ought to do and therefore the expert is not prepared for him, does not do what he ought to do and often the expert is then caught out and is ended on the spot.

As mentioned previously, we began the journey to address many of the challenges of redefining the professional services firm business model over 10 years ago.

For many, the journey has started more recently and we believe it important to share our learnings. Our upcoming July roadshow will be a full day example of this.

Download the brochure here.

Before then, our free webinar on Thursday this week (that is 28 April) will also share a number of insights (see - https://viewlegal.com.au/product/free-webinar-foundations-for-the-future-28-april-2016/)

Joining the Dots - the Innovator's Dilemma and the Professions

Simon Sinek latest book is Leaders Eat Last (see - http://www.amazon.com.au/Leaders-Eat-Last-Together-Others-ebook/dp/B00DGZKQM8)

It has received excellent reviews, and having read it, I understand why (no pun intended – see - http://www.amazon.com.au/Start-Why-Leaders-Inspire-Everyone-ebook/dp/B002Q6XUE4/ref=pd_sim_kinc_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=03QHTP7C0X3YHPWYRCBH)

One of the most compelling aspects, which Sinek has also highlighted in an article (see - http://www.salon.com/2014/01/04/how_baby_boomers_screwed_their_kids_%E2%80%94_and_created_millennial_impatience/) is as follows –

Why would we think that we can do our work, check our phones, write a paragraph, send a text, write another paragraph, send another text, without the same damage to our ability to concentrate?

Generation Y thinks that, because they have grown up with all these technologies, they are better at multitasking. I would venture to argue they are not better at multitasking. What they are better at is being distracted.

Parkinson's Law further reinforces the dangerous ramifications of the 'ping' mentality - i.e. that completion of any task always expands to the available time, unless there is true and disciplined commitment to a narrower timeframe.

Our experience, having worked entirely fixed price for over 10 years now and having completely abandoned timesheets in 2013 largely mirrors the point Sinek makes.

Indeed, some of the most talented and outstanding lawyers when time billing often become unable to excel in any aspect of a fixed price model. Invariably, this leads to significant angst for the relevant lawyer, the surrounding team members and ultimately the clients.

In many respects, the innovator's dilemma assumes that at least part of the disruption of any industry will be driven by younger entrants, who do not have the level of investment in the heritage business model.

Another book in a similar space suggests this will not be the case at least for the legal industry, if not numerous other professions, currently wedded to the time billing model will be touched on in a future post.

Our upcoming roadshow (see -http://viewlegal.com.au/roadshow-interest/) will explore a number of these issues.
Image credit: Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek

‘Fixed’ Pricing

As most will know, all work we do is on an upfront agreed scope and guaranteed fixed pricing.

Last week, I was reminded of the difference in our approach, compared to the vast majority of advisers.

An accountant that we work closely with referred a client to us who had been given a fixed cost estimate.

This ‘fixed’ cost estimate had already been exceeded by more than 100% of the initial quote and at the accountant’s best guess the job was only two-thirds complete.

Understandably, the client was concerned that any price that we might provide may in fact only be an estimate as opposed to a fixed price contract.

Fortunately, having worked with the accountant before, she was able to confirm to the client that our fixed prices were just that – fixed; and money back guaranteed. We are now working with the client and the accountant to bring closure to the outstanding steps.

Image credit: Simon Cunningham cc

The Art of Value

Many would be aware of our passion for up front, guaranteed fixed pricing rather than the traditional time-billing model of most law firms.  

A summary of our approach in this regard has received wide spread interest – see the ‘Old View v New View’ table on our website at - http://viewlegal.com.au/a-new-view/

Much of our inspiration in this regard comes from the VeraSage Institute, a revolutionary international think tank which, for many years, has been challenging professional services firms to price their services other than with reference to the Marxist derived labour theory of value that is time billing.

The VeraSage Institute was founded by LinkedIn Influencer Ron Baker and we are proud to be listed as a VeraSage ‘Trailblazer’ (see - http://www.verasage.com/thelist/).

Another of the Trailblazers listed is the business from the United States founded by Kirk Bowman known as ‘The Art of Value'.

Kirk hosts a podcast on iTunes and recently I was fortunate enough to be featured on it.

A link to the podcast is as follows - https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/art-value-show-discover-value/id924824616?mt=2#episodeGuid=http%3A%2F%2Fartofvalue.com%2F%3Fp%3D4849.  Alternatively it can be viewed via the Art of Value blog, that also provides session notes at - http://artofvalue.com/journey-from-time-to-value-matthew-burgess/

The interview touches on many aspects of our experience, including:

1.  That value pricing is a journey, not a destination;
2. Case study examples of fixed pricing by professional services;
3. The importance of agreeing with a client a defined scope before commencing work;
4. That while fixed pricing may change your business, offering customers choices can change your life;
5. Exploring the cultural issues behind converting from a time billing firm (where the key focus is on what is ‘chargeable') to a timeless firm (where the key focus is on what is valuable).

Image credit: Nicki Mannix cc