The title of this post could easily be the paperless office myth. The promise of multiple software vendors that they are the answer to eradicating paper and ensuring everything is electronic.
It’s the unachievable goal!
I’ve posted a lot about managing emails recently and just before I left my vacation I had a great phone call with a partner. The phone call was about the electronic file and how current systems didn’t cut it. I’ve mulled this over for a week or so and realised it’s just not possible to eradicate the paper!
One part of the conversation summed it up for me. It was when the partner was talking about preparing for a call with the client, picking up the lever arch folder with the correspondence in and flicking through recent discussions with the client on the matter. Doing this in the electronic file was a pain, and I’m sure from this simple scenario you can see why.
And this wasn’t the grumblings of a few non-tech savvy old partners, this mainly came from the younger lawyers who have grown up with technology.
Underneath it’s the same conundrum as eBooks. Paper books are just, well, easier. You can flick about, scan pages easily, stick post-its on pages, write in margins etc.
We talked briefly of options available (one of which has been aired at numerous Autonomy iManage WorkSite user groups – that of the blue arrows to navigate backwards and forwards through open emails in a folder, why isn’t it available in WorkSite as in Outlook?). But afterwards I concluded that non of these will truly solve the problem.
That is not solve it yet!
In the world of eBooks things are slowly starting to change. Specifically designed devices like Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader are starting to offer a real alternative to paper books.
Also better user interfaces are appearing like Microsoft’s Surface, where you can move documents around the “surface” like you would paper on a desk.
Yes I know it’s all a bit Tomorrow’s World, a little bit of future gazing. But imagine if your desk was a “surface” type device and you had a handheld tablet device (like a Kindle). These were linked to the firms document/email management system seamlessly. The desk would also recognise your “eBook device”, so you could simply push electronic documents around your desk, identify the ones you wanted to read and then push them onto your “eBook device”. Then you can simply pick up your “eBook device”, read through, bookmark and make notes.
It’s then and only then can I see a paperless office!
Until that time it needs to be a case of not focussing on the storage capacity of our SAN’s, the disaster recovery solutions, the global access issues, the information security requirements etc etc (still important yes, but not #1). No, we should be refocusing on making it easier for the lawyer to file and handle the electronic versions of their email and documents, in as logical and easy way as the current technology will allow.
My feeling is the effort should be to drive toward measurably “less paper” (and making it recycled paper) without insisting that success only means fully “paperless”.
1) even the revered iPhone can’t replace the convenience of grabbing a sheet of paper, a napkin, anything to jot a note on..without requiring a device being on your person (with a charged battery at that). 2) the tangibility of flipping through the file, touching paper, and writing instead of typing has some psychological component even for the younger lawyers (as you alluded to). 3) the quickness of putting hard copy mail in the file rather than the extra step of scanning it. 4) the amount of time it takes to boot up a computer is inconvenient. It should be able to flip on and go. 5) the lack of standardization across courts and jurisdictions over what needs to be retained or submitted in hard copy.
This being said..I do like the concept of Microsoft Surface as getting us closer to success: of the “less paper” variety!
Seems to me that the current crop of tools are still struggling to organize electronic information, and it is organization that they focus on. Work really has not begun yet on how to actually consume this organized this information.
It is interesting that you mention Surface + ebook reader, as those are purely consumption tools. I was just discussing matter centricity with some people, and mentioning how important it was to think about how people were going to read and use the information when designing the system.
Another great article.
The future? You need to check something, you verbally call up the document which appears on your 3D or holo-screen, you use gestures to ‘flick’ to the page you want. You ‘grab’ the document dust it to your e-book or mobile and off your go. If you have 20 lever-arch files and dry fingers, got to be quicker! Most of the technology already exists, the problem is the lack of convergence and standards on a stable high performing OS. It will be years before it all becomes consumer able by which time my kids will be laughing at my inability to understand quantum computing video recorder… [sigh]
As the person who usually raises this issue at the Autonomy iManage User Group meetings, it is very frustrating that it’s not easier to “flick through” the electronic file. It’s the one thing that’s really missing from the matter-centric environment.
I’d agree with Cynthia though – we never say “paperless”, we always say “less paper”. But then we approach e-filing from the risk perspective first and foremost – the e-file is a searchable and more accessible record, and far more secure (laptops and BlackBerrys are encrypted, paper is not!). So the goal shouldn’t be to eradicate paper, but to make it the “work in progress” medium – you can mark up, scribble and doodle on paper all you like, so long as you scan it into the electronic file and recycle/shred the paper afterwards…
The example of being able to pick up a lever arch file and flick through it is the best case when dealing with paper. You also need to consider the worst case – the paper file is sitting on your colleague’s desk, but you have no way of knowing that, or they have taken it home to do some work on it. Or you have the file but a vital document is sitting in someone’s filing tray. In any of those circumstances the electronic file outperforms paper completely.
As far as consumption of documents goes, I find that things like Coverflow and Quicklook make accessing documents much nicer than on the PC and these sort of technologies combined with large (and multiple monitors) make accessing documents a more pleasurable experience.
I have been an avid reader since I was a teen. I didn’t think it was possible for me to read anymore…until I bought a Kindle. I love it!! I am reading more than ever. I can’t remember when I last turned on my TV. I love the dictionary function. I can just look up a word as I read instead of finding a dictionary. Being able to download a book instantly is genius. One of my most favorite things is I can now read easily at the gym as I do my cardio. Regular books are a pain on the treadmill…books never stay open. I could go on and on…anyway, I tell everyone one about my Kindle and most of the time when I travel I have a hard time actually reading as people around me are always asking what it is that I am looking at.