Tom Mighell and I have recorded another episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast and it’s now available on the Legal Talk Network and on iTunes, with an RSS feed here. The episode is called “Lawyers as Project Managers” (show notes here), and it’s sponsored by Clio. A special thank you to readers of this blog who listen to the podcast – consider trying out an episode or becoming a regular subscriber.

Here’s the episode description:

It’s what you do with the technology after you get it that really matters. A hot area these days in legal technology is the use of technology for project management, especially in e-discovery. But e-discovery is not the only place we’re seeing project management discussions. In this episode, co-hosts Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell take a look at the impact project management concerns will play in technology choices, the evolution of legal project management skills and practices, and the increasing role project management is already playing in the practice of law.

It seems that a day rarely goes by where I don’t see several blog posts and articles about the growing role project management is playing in the practice of law.

In a sense, it’s a bit of a surprise to see the emphasis in 2010, because the idea has been around for quite a while. I had written about using a program called The MasterList because of its project management focus back in my 2002 legal tech trends article, an article also noteworthy for my confident prediction about the role blogs could play. Ironically, it was a prediction I confidently made more than a year before I got around to starting my own blog. Tom and I also dedicated a chapter of our book to the role of project management tools in collaboration efforts.

On the other hand, there’s no doubt that the growing emphasis on e-discovery has re-energized and brought a new focus to the role project management can play in the practice of law, and Tom and I dive into this very important topic.

We cover the waterfront, from difference between case manaagement and project management to whether project manage is a necessary lawyer skill today to the huge benefits good project managers bring to projects.

One of the great things I’ve found is that project management skills can definitely be taught and learned. Project management is also a great example of an approach to fit your technology into your real-world needs.

In our “Questions and Answers” segment, we take on two audience questions:

1. Is there a good way to manage or delete Facebook friends with whom I no longer want to be “friends”? (Yes – and we outline a couple of approaches)

2. Is there a way that I can easily go back and look through old tweets, Facebook posts and other social media updates? (yes – there are ways, but probably not so easily as you’d wish)

We end the podcast with our Parting Shots – practical tips you can use right away. Tom thinks it’s time to take a closer look at Google Voice and recommends a blog post on the top 10 clever Google Voice tricks. I rave about Rodney Dowell’s recent episode of The Un-Billable Hour titled “Outsourcing Legal Work to India – Even Solos Do it and Nick Morgan’s recent blog post “10 Rules for Presenting as a Team.

Give our new episode a listen and let me know what you think. Show notes for the podcast are here. And try some of the back episodes as well. You can also now follow the podcast on Twitter at @tkmreport.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (https://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

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Now Available! The Lawyer’s Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell. Visit the companion website for the book at LawyersGuidetoCollaboration.com. Twitter: @collabtools