The National Association for Court Management 2010 Annual Conference is in New Orleans next week and I’m excited about the program and activities I have planned there. The conference theme is Wisdom in Action: Proven Court Practices and the week is jam packed with terrific content.

Let’s start with the governance issues with a NACM Board Meeting on July 19 and joint FACT Steering Committee and Joint Technology Committee meeting on July 20. There are a load of administrative issues that deserve attention and it’s a pleasure to be part of the policy solutions. Follow that with education events interspersed throughout the week, an ICM Fellows’ reception* on July 21, vendor show on July 22 and hosting duties for one of the education sessions. Cap off the week with me serving as faculty for a Best of Court Websites course that is repeated on July 23.

*Last year I was honored to be feted with the ICM Fellow STAR Award at a reception held in Boston at the 2009 NACM Annual Conference, so I plan to be front and center when this year’s recipient is named.

In between there is a lot of catching up, social events, business networking and marketing opportunities. I also plan to enjoy the wonderful city, its food and entertainment.

I admit that I’m not looking forward to the July heat and humidity in New Orleans, but I am looking forward to showing my support for the Gulf Coast in what seems to be a series of unfortunate setbacks that should in no way reflect poorly on the spirit and perspicacity of the local denizens.

Oh yeah, and in case you are tracking this blog so you know when to burglarize my house, I left a huge, hungry dog inside so back off !! Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez … Let the Good Times Roll !!

Chris Crawford

www.justiceserved.com

Photo credit = Tales from an Open Book blog

I admit to proselytizing for improved project management skills among court managers as one of the key survival skills of our time. With the financial crisis driving transformational process re-engineering in courts, it is becoming even more apparent that PM is the latest core competency that will ensure we make it through to the other end of this ordeal. So here is my primer on the subject in the form of Frequently Asked Questions:

WHAT IS A PROJECT?  - A project has a beginning and an end. It has deliverables and goals, and creates something that didn’t previously exist. It is not ongoing operations or maintenance. A project requires the direction of resources over a period of time to create a product or program, the quality of which will be determined by the amount of resources, amount of available time and how well the process is managed.

WHAT IS A PROJECT MANAGER? - The individual or groups of individuals that manage the deployment of resources and manage the time constraints to accomplish a project are project managers.

WHAT IS THE “TRIPLE CONSTRAINT?  - A project is affected by the amount of available resources and available time, and the quality of the output is affected accordingly. This concept is called the “triple constraint” and is depicted in the following graphic:

WHAT ARE THE REASONS FOR PROJECT FAILURE?  - The updated 2001 list of reasons why projects fail from the Standish Group study is ranked in the far left column, along with a survey of members of the National Association for Court Management, also conducted in 2001:

Standish Group 2001 Rank	NACM 2001 Rank	Reasons for project failure
1	2	Lack of executive support
2	10	Lack of user involvement
3	1	Inexperienced project manager or management
4	7	Unclear business objectives
5	6	Too complex scope of project
6	4	Lack of standard software infrastructure
7	5	Lack of firm basic requirements
8	9	Lack of formal methodology
9	3	Lack of reliable estimates
10	7	Other criteria

THE BOTTOM LINE

It is clear that the need for solid project management skills is of significant importance when it comes to the likelihood of project success. This was ranked #1 as the reason for project failure by the court management profession, and #3 by the Standish Group for projects in every other industry.

The above list of reasons for project failure also serves as a positive roadmap to show what is needed to improve the odds of success:

√ Make sure that management and court leadership support the project.

√ Make sure to involve the end users in your project development and execution.

√ Be clear about your objectives and take the time to develop a comprehensive scope of work.

√ For IT projects, make sure to have the right infrastructure in place, adequate user requirements, formal methodologies and accurate estimates.

… and for every project, make sure you apply solid project management skills

Chris Crawford

www.justiceserved.com

Title graphic credit = Microsoft clip art

Triple Constraint graphic credit = Projections Consulting

The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) released the 2010 edition of their popular Future Trends in State Courts publication and the content this year is bold. It focuses on public education about courts as an institution and the current transformation taking place as a result of the financial crisis.

Coincidentally, the National Association for Court Management’s Court Express e-publication for Spring 2010 headlined The New Reality for Court Managers, which mirrors many of the process reengineering themes in the Trends report. These include:

1. The financial crisis will be deeper and more prolonged than most expect.
2. While past budget savings focused on cuts and revenue, future savings will likely focus more on process reengineering and/or substantial technology development.
3. Reengineering must focus on core values and purposes of courts.
4. Relations between the courts and other branches of government will continue to be altered by the financial realities.
5. (Direct quote): The idea that the court will be in a much better place when things “get back to where they used to be” is a misconception that needs to be addressed by court leadership. Accepting the notion that we are not likely to return to the circumstances of the past is very important if we are to solve our current problems.

I am still reading the Trends report, so I cannot offer an in-depth analysis as yet, but it is clear that NCSC has been in front of the financial crisis and much of this work includes reengineering efforts in a number of court jurisdictions as part of their technical assistance to states weathering the financial storms.

As a Phoenix rose from the ashes in Greek mythology, courts, too, will rise from the current financial crisis as a new and vibrant 3rd branch of government. To do so, it will take leadership, focus, hewing to core values and the courage to make the right changes.

Easy? No! Necessary? Absolutely!

Chris Crawford

www.justiceserved.com

Photo credit = Cracker Jack Phoenix League

We’ve known for a long time that computer hard drives hold a treasure trove of information and need to be scrubbed clean before recycling or donation lest they divulge valuable information to the wrong people. With the omnipresence of “smart” devices nowadays, this exposure also applies to cell phones, answering machines and even copy machines.

An April 15, 2010 segment of the CBS Evening News featured “Digital Photocopiers Loaded With Secrets,” exposing scary scenarios about tons of information available for the picking in used copy machine warehouses. As the story notes, nearly every digital copier built since 2002 contains a hard drive - like the one on your personal computer - storing an image of every document copied, scanned, or emailed by the machine. YIKES !!

Can you imagine the range of information these hard drives hold? Personally, I also use mine as a heavy duty printer, which means that every file I printed off my computer is also captured in the bowels of the beast. DOUBLE YIKES !!

My God, think of all those hormone-crazed office workers who at one time or another dropped their trousers and photocopied their rear ends. Oh, the humanity !!

So what can be done? For starters, these manufacturers should do a better job of advising purchasers of the risks and take the next step of offering remedies. Sharp offers such a package for what may seem like a steep price of $500, but when one considers the cost of identity theft and liability it no longer seems so high. There are other commercial packages and services on the market that offer preventative solutions and pre-disposal disk scrubbing

You can watch the 5 minute CBS Evening News on their website, or on YouTube.

It’s shocking, but worth the time if it shocks you into taking remedial action when the time comes to dump your current copier.

Life is indeed becoming more complicated.

Chris Crawford

www.justiceserved.com

Photo credit = Tutoorials.com

On this the first day of summer, what better time to celebrate our freedom and our yearning for vacation to get away from it all? What’s keeping us? Our Crackberries, of course! Those little balls-and-chains that tether us to work, email, text messages, reminders and to-do lists. As court managers, we never seem to escape, but thank goodness that judges haven’t fallen prey to this madness … or have they?

According to the distinguished Herbert B. Dixon Jr., judge of the District of Columbia Superior Court, judges are indeed Blackberry power users as covered in his excellent piece entitled Developing an Addiction to Your BlackBerry in 13 Easy Steps published in the American Bar Association The Judges’ Journal, Volume 49, Number 2, Spring 2010.

But does the good judge advise restraint? Does he caution against the temptation to stay connected and extol the virtues of living a balanced life of work and play? Hell no … he trots out a series of power user tips that will turn our species into giant thumbed creatures who sleep at our desks.

I have opined early and often warning of this ailment. Despite my own best efforts to avoid it, I turned on the email feature on my Crackberry and now have to struggle to keep from regularly checking the status of incoming messages. I have even succumbed to the dreaded texting monster, though I keep a rubber band around my wrist and snap it every time I send a message, just to keep from overusing it.

What I haven’t been able to do is completely unplug. I can’t seem to go on vacation or even enjoy a weekend or holiday without that blasted gizmo implanted in my hip.

So save yourselves … it’s too late for me. Eschew the beast, live a more simple life. At least then you’ll have the luxury of assimilating information before responding. Of deciding whether to call someone back after a relaxing day with your family.

You’ll be glad you did.

Chris Crawford

www.justiceserved.com

Photo credit = Associated Press photo by Richard Drew in a San Francisco Chronicle article on a Blackberry legal ruling

OK, I admit it. I am a dyed-in-the-wool Mac-head who started with a Mac SE/30 (at court, no less) and tried my level best to live peaceably in a Windows-dominated work world. In 1998, I was forced to pull the plug on Apple computing and fell asleep next to the Microsoft pod in order to be effective in managing and consulting in court technology. Just when I am officially over the break-up, along comes the iPad. GAD !!

I looked, I touched and I played around with it … this can be nearly fatal in the Mac world because this technology is soooo freaking cool. Then I remembered why we broke up. The costs were too high compared to the competition, the choices of software were extremely limited, files tended to be proprietary rendering sharing almost impossible, collaborating with non-Mac colleagues became a nightmare, and if you got stuck somewhere remote (especially internationally) you were screwed.

The single biggest reason I decided not to take the plunge again is the lack of versatility in this particular tool. It became clear that I couldn’t leave my laptop behind if I needed to actually compute or make a Powerpoint presentation, so what’s the point of carrying two or more tech devices around with you? That’s why I dumped my MP3 player after I picked up a Crackberry, which also enabled me to drop a separate PDA.

So here’s the question … is there a legitimate role for the ultra-cool iPad in the court technology world? I posted this inquiry on the LinkedIn FACT forum and David Slayton, the ubiquitous court administrator from Lubbock posted a similar inquiry on the Court2Court listserv. Here is an excerpted summary of the replies:

From OREGON: As an administrator I have been using a Fujitsu Lifebook for the last three years and along with One Note can be a great organizational tool to almost rid yourself of legal pads. Standard tablets are definitely a production/working tool and Lenovo is coming out with one that will allow you to detach the screen to make it iPad like. However, I’d be wary of the iPad at this point as a production tool. I think the learning curve to make it work properly could be an issue.

From FLORIDA: We’re looking at the possibility of iPads or other netbooks, notebooks, and tablet PC’S as one element of a three-pronged project to improve the judiciary’s ability to perform work with electronic records in chambers, courtroom and from home. The current focus is on how to make the case file images easily available, how to “group” commonly used images in each case for easier access, and allowing multiple documents in singles cases as well as multiple documents in multiple cases to be open at once.  The challenge that has been issued is to make the electronic files as easy to use as paper, if not easier.  We are experimenting with touch screens for use in chambers and courtrooms, and the iPads would be used for travel and home use if a home desktop PC is not desired by the judge.  The project is in its infancy and no actual demonstration of iPad use has been accomplished yet.

From CANADA (1): While I generally support the use of most technology in a courtroom or by judges generally, I must say I am not a fan of iPads. Tablets have existed for years and I militated for their adoption by judges. However, I can’t be supportive of a tablet with no power nor USB connection. Notwithstanding its low price the iPad will only add to the armada of poorly integrated technologies the judiciary needs to deal with. Judges will still need a computer, a cellphone, etc. I think real tablet PCs are still the way to go, no matter the hype around Apple’s new toy.

From Canada (2): The value will only be if applications utilized in the eTrials are able to run on the technologies.  Many of the Judges I work with are still coming to terms with technologies generally.  There is still a limited understanding of the difference between true electronic courtbooks and those simply mirroring a case management solution through simple VGA technologies with limited workflow, in saying this it does work it is just more costly and less efficient, particularly when it comes to true court management ie exhibit management and integration.

From CALIFORNIA: I am told that legal services and self-help staff in California are very pleased with iPads, using them for real time legal research and for searching websites for information and forms.  I would think that judges would find them equally useful for legal research.  Do your judges, however, need to have portable access to legal research or are they always going to be in their offices or on the bench when they are querying a legal information site?  If they are at home preparing for calendars, they would probably find it very handy to have instantaneous access using an iPad.

From SOUTH DAKOTA: We had an iPad problem arise here just last week.  It’s our standard practice to collect jurors’ cell phones when they go into deliberations.  A bailiff guards the pile of phones on a table outside the deliberation room door. We also place trial exhibits on the table in the deliberation room for the jurors.  A police video DVD had been entered into evidence in a trial last week.  At one point the jury wanted to (re)view the video. Normally a bailiff would get a DVD player on a rolling cart for them, but instead a juror just pulled an iPad from her large purse and they played it for themselves.  Not a big deal in itself, we would have displayed it for them anyway, but that iPad could have easily accessed the open, public WiFi signal we have in the courthouse (or the WiFi signal from the big hotel across the street for that matter).  Luckily the jury did no “surfing” and the trial was not disturbed in any away, but now we’re having a discussion here about whether to collect “any internet-accessible device” along with the cell phones from the jurors, or maybe address this with a standard jury instruction as a number of courts already do, or both.

From OHIO: We’re considering the viewing of case filing images assembled into eBooks, and iPad is a possibility for this.

So there you have it … we report and you decide !!

Chris Crawford

www.justiceserved.com

Photo credit = Apple iPad gallery

I previously mentioned that Karl Heckart and I are presenting a session at both East and West coast eCourts conferences this year. The name of the session is Technology trends, cool and edgy, which leaves a pretty wide open canvas upon which to paint.

Thus far, we have agreed upon this session description:

How can we best align court service delivery with the technology tools and toys, as well as the increasingly sophisticated expectations of court users? This session will offer mini-presentations on tech topics, including wireless applications, e-signage, e-forms, e-signature pads, applications for Personal Digital Assistants, e-readers, cloud computing, IT consolidation, social media.

Challenging enough? Hardly !! Add to the breadth and depth of the subject matter these two little twists … the sessions are only 30 minutes and they end the 2nd day of each conference, after which is a reception. Hah !!

We have yet to put the finishing touches on the content, but we have agreed roughly to have a lot of fast paced music and streaming video, but at some point ask the question, what are courts doing to prepare to serve the needs of increasingly tech-savvy consumers who are used to receiving information and services in altogether different delivery methods?

ANY (and I do mean ANY) help, advice, references to media clips and/or spiritual guidance are welcome. What would YOU like to see in this session?

Chris Crawford

www.justiceserved.com

Photo credit = Dali at Mr Moif’s MySpace page

Anyone active in the court management profession has come across Dr. Ron Stupak at one conference or another. Ron speaks eloquently about organizational development, strategic management and leadership, and my enduring memory of his various speeches is one in which he said that the most effective leaders are those who practice leadership with a small L.

This concept is open to interpretation, but to me it means that when acting in a lead capacity too many look for big, memorable “Capital L” leadership moments, when in actuality these moments are few and far between. If such moments do occur, they are often associated with some crisis intervention in which quick decisions are needed and organizations (and even society as a whole) seek assurance from those at the top that everything is going to be OK.

Small L leadership is the day-to-day business of building credibility, forging alliances, developing (and stretching) subordinates, articulating a vision of the future and deciding what to measure when determining success. This work is a marathon, not a sprint, and requires faithful, genuine hard work.

I had the recent honor of stepping in to help a friend by teaching a leadership course for judges in a southern state. It didn’t matter that I had not taught a leadership course before or that I had nothing to do with this particular curriculum development, Powerpoint presentation or creation of group exercises. Every course that I teach has major leadership components and you cannot survive 37 years (YIKES) of working in courts without strong and regular exposure to leadership in action (both positive and negative).

This course was developed using the National Association for Court Management’s 10 core competencies, and in particular the knowledge, skills and abilities described for effective Leadership. The course is divided into these discrete sections:

• Be Credible in Action
• Create Focus Through Vision and Purpose
• Manage Interdependencies: Work Beyond the Boundaries
• Produce a High Performance Work Environment
• Do Skillful and Continual Diagnosis

I kicked off the class with US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s concurring opinion in Jacobellis v. Ohio 378 U.S. 184 (1964), regarding possible obscenity in a movie called The Lovers, in which he famously said … I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description ["hard-core pornography"]; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it …

Similarly, there is an endless stream of books and reference materials on leadership (much of it even copyrighted, for some silly reason), but no matter how glib, succinct or erudite the description, people innately know leadership when they see it, and more important, recognize poor leadership regardless of position, wealth or social status.

I strive to be a good leader, but I know the effort must stem from your core, after which frameworks such as those embodied by NACM’s Leadership Core Competency serve as an excellent guide.

Chris Crawford

www.justiceserved.com

Photo credit = Patton, the movie, from the Heavyarmor blog

With enhanced revenue collection the name of the game nowadays as a means to lessen the impact of budget cuts, I offer this discussion about an interesting concept called the Court Compliance Office that I implemented as a court administrator in the then-South Bay Municipal Court in Torrance, CA.

CLICK HERE to download a copy of the Court Compliance Office Report for more details, but here is a quick rundown …

Unclog post disposition criminal court calendars by delegating routine tasks to the clerks’ office instead of in the courtroom. These could include allowing defendants to convert community service into a fine (and vice versa), giving extensions for fine payment, and re-referring defendants to specialized programs such as drinking driver treatment programs. The trick is to have a clear understanding among the judges as to what specific tasks the clerks are allowed to perform, and aligning these tasks with the particular operating desires of individual judges.

A court colleague was recently assigned management duties for a new court compliance office and asked for my advice. Here is my reply:

1. Be sure to take credit cards, across the counter, online and by automated interactive phone service (IVR). The bottom line is to make it easy for your customers to comply.
2. Use skip trace services to refresh addresses and work accounts before you turn them over to a collection agency. There are third party providers who do a good job of this, and I would also recommend using www.Revq.com for your accounts receivable software. It’s cost effective and has a ton of third party providers, such as skip trace, notice generation, etc.
3. IMMEDIATELY at the time of sentencing, route the defendants through your compliance office for a financial evaluation and to debrief them on what just occurred at sentencing and what is expected to comply. This will require that court clerks docket sentencing real time so your staff can see the terms and conditions, but the trade off is worth it.
4. Partner with local hospitals and city/county services to “packet” accounts receivable. If someone owes you, they may also owe the hospitals, city, etc. Ventura County (CA) Superior Court used to do this very effectively.
5. Work with your judges to build trust in the effectiveness of the Court Compliance Office so that eventually the judge will sentence and give you one year to gain full compliance for fines and other conditions. If a defendant violates in the interim, the judge gets them back, otherwise you keep and work with them for up to one year without judicial intervention. If you can’t get compliance in one year, then give them back to the court for ultimate disposition (i.e., jail).

Admittedly, the Court Compliance Office model works best in limited jurisdiction courts handling infractions and misdemeanors; however, we are increasingly seeing post disposition matters eat judicial calendar time and effective strategies are needed to move these matters out of the court. This is especially true if rulings and outcomes are routine and predictable.

My staff and I are proud to have won the California Administrative Office of the Courts’ prestigious Ralph Kleps Award for judicial innovation for this program back in 1994. I left that year to end a 21-year career as a public sector court manager and embark on a private sector career as a court management consultant. It was great to make the transition on a high note !!

Chris Crawford

www.justiceserved.com

Photo credit = Microsoft clip art

One of the drawbacks to my profession as a court management consultant is the significant amount of travel that comes with the job. Last week, I found myself in the unfortunate confluence of bad travel juju, Midwestern weather and a must-appear obligation in Northern Michigan. Hence, my tale of woe.

First, I pride myself in my ethic to do whatever is necessary to fulfill my professional obligations. Sometimes this means heroic efforts against daunting odds. Last week was such an experience …

The last leg of a 3-part flight from my home in Eureka to Traverse City, MI was cancelled and I was stranded at the Chicago International Airport just across Lake Michigan from my intended destination. The good news was that I hopped an earlier flight on standby status so I could get to Chicago earlier and get some work done before my relatively short 5:30pm flight to Michigan. The cause was weather delay, oddly from the previous day because the current weather was overcast but pleasant, dry and not windy.

After exploring the flight options to Grand Rapids, Lansing, Detroit and Saginaw, I was wary because each showed delays on the status board, each would get me in pretty late, and from there I would still have to rent a car one-way and drive a respectable distance. Since it was only 2:30pm, I chose to drive to Traverse City from O’Hare and the games began from there.

Problem 1 = no baggage. Although I faithfully pack light and carry my own bag rather than check it, the earlier flight from San Francisco was packed so they lifted by small roll-aboard and checked it to Michigan. Despite my best effort, I couldn’t get the baggage gods in Chicago to release it, even though the folks in front of me at the baggage claim convinced the clerk to let them walk their dog who they recognized from his barks in the baggage storage warehouse.

Problem 2 = the bad weather the day before and residual delays meant that rental cars were scarce, especially for one-way bookings to obscure destinations. It took some time to find a rental car company willing to comply with my needs, and when I arrived to retrieve my prize, the line was gi-normous. 45 minutes later, I got the car, but I was still reeling from the cost … $300 when everything was totaled, for one day!! One of those expenses was a GPS, which I was sure I needed. Even though my Blackberry has navigation, I expected to make and receive several calls during the trip and the Garmin add-on software on it was acting cranky of late. I left at 3:30pm.

Problem 3 = during the nearly 300 mile joyride, I had to find a clothing store to purchase some slacks, a dress shirt and tie so I didn’t show up in jeans and a t-shirt. The only sure-thing I could find en route was either a Sears or JC Penney in Michigan City, Indiana. I chose the JC Penney, although the last time I was in one was when I was 12 years old and used my own money to purchase a package of tighty-whities and a blue work shirt. I bought chinos and blue dress shirt on sale, but not only were the ties hideous, they were $30 each. After I complained, the sales lady advised that I buy two, since the 2nd was half off, and then return it immediately afterward. Huh? I dutifully complied and now own a $21 stain resistant tie of unknown material and questionable design. I purchased a meal to go from Applebees and got back on the road.

Unanticipated problem 4 = detours. While much of the route was on 70 mph expressway, things soon changed into highways, which changed into country roads because of detours. Despite having a compact car, I was soon on empty and had to refill, which gave me the opportunity to confirm the directions.

Unanticipated problem 5 = deer. I dutifully phoned my destination host to inform her that I would be late and bringing additional travel charges, and she sympathized with my cause. However, as she signed off she said to drive carefully and be sure to watch out for the deer. WHAT?? An hour later on a lonely stretch of back road with me barreling at 65 mph, sure as crap a group of four deer appeared out of nowhere. One crossed the road, the others were halfway across, I was in full brake mode and hit the horn. The others stopped; I swerved and narrowly missed a collision that would have put me in an even worse predicament (if that was possible). I said a silent prayer and moved on.

I arrived at midnight, in time to order two beers to go from the bar, get to my room, start ironing my new clothes and eventually catch some sleep. The rest, as they say, is history. The engagement went well, and they enjoyed the My Cousin Vinny story I told them about the ridiculous outfit I was wearing (I forgot to tell you that I refused to purchase dress shoes, so I was still wearing tennis shoes).

The good news is that I have amassed a ton of credits in travel karma, which I will put to good use. It began on the return trip where I was upgraded to first class for the longest leg of the journey and had a wonderful meal, newspaper and nap.

OK, so I’m missing the train in my graphic for this story, but the experience is still reminiscent of the classic movie with Steve Martin and John Candy trying to travel home for Thanksgiving. I feel their pain.

Chris Crawford

www.justiceserved.com

Photo credit = Green Bay Press Gazette blog