Archive for the “Court Performance” Category

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

This is my first foray into critiquing the US Supreme Court, so please forgive me if I do not rise to the standard of the famous SCOTUS blog that tracks the activities of that august body. This posting deals with a less-than-flattering encounter in oral arguments concerning the privacy of a police officer’s personal text messages to and from a city-owned pager, as reported by the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.

OK, let’s start with the fact that US Supreme Court justices are not typically young (John Paul Stevens just celebrated his 90th birthday), and individuals in these positions often lead sheltered lives for reasons of privacy and security. Let’s add that some reports of totally sheltered politicians are untrue, such as the urban myth that George H.W. Bush lost his re-election bid in 1992 partly because it was reported he was unaware of grocery store check-out scanners that had been in use since the mid 1970’s.

Even so, the oral arguments in this case yielded some DUE (dumb-end-user) questions from various justices, including Chief Justice Roberts who asked about the difference between an email and a pager (huh?). The True/Slant blog even chided some of the DUE arguments of defense counsel in saying that text delivery is like the US Mail in that the government has no right to intercept and read it.

In an editorial entitled Dial-Up Law in a Broadband World, the New York Times opined that (the Electronic Communications Privacy Act) is a 20th-century relic. Adopted in 1986, it has had trouble keeping up with technological advances and is now badly out of date. However, this opinion only addresses the need for Congress to get its act together in regards to the legal implications of technology. The missing piece to this public discourse is what the courts are doing to improve the quality of judicial decisions related to technical and science-based issues.

The National Center for State Courts has a terrific CourTopics index of issues that includes a specific page on Science, Technology, and the Law, but even this resource concentrates on science and the court-management aspects of technology as opposed to preparing the courts to improve decision-making for technology-related issues that come before our trial and appellate courts. A quick review of available courses at the National Judicial College shows a similar paucity of related resources.

As society continues to dump its problems at the courthouse steps, it is incumbent on us as court professionals to ensure that we have the wherewithal to deal effectively with the technical issues that these disputes entail. Education is key, as is the recognition that this is a growing problem and we need to do something about it.

My thanks to a colleague from the Midwest for passing along this juicy item … while my twisted mind is a rich source for continuing topics on this blog, I am always grateful for tips and I openly invite guest postings that you think would be of interest to the judicial administration profession. If it includes a bit of sardonic humor, all the better !!

Chris Crawford

www.justiceserved.com

Photo credit = Microsoft clip art

A friend and colleague recently sought my advice for an upcoming staff retreat where the topic would be how to weather the current economic storm. My advice is contained in this posting, but I want to be crystal clear that what courts are going through financially is serious and a lot of people are getting hurt, including judges, staff, justice partners, court users and even society itself. There is no diminishing or downplaying that stark truth. Notwithstanding this storm that rages at our door, my advice is to take the high road.

Let me start by relating that last week I attended a meeting of local business leaders who serve as an advisory and support group for the president of our local university. The first comments at that meeting came from the university president and then the chair of the group and they both said the same thing … we have to get out of survival mode and into success mode.

At first, this sounds like a half-time pep talk by the coach of the losing football team, but it’s true. In many respects, this budgetary downturn is no different than any other strategic planning exercise in which the tasks are to:

• Identify what it is you’re trying to accomplish
• Identify your core values and mission
• Put all your assets and resources on the table
• Figure out how to accomplish your goals and objectives with the resources you have

If your resources aren’t sufficient (and ask yourself honestly, when have they EVER been sufficient?), begin to identify ways to cut costs AND raise revenue. You have to do both and neither will suffice on its own.

At the end of the same day as my meeting at the university, I had a strategic planning retreat with the elected board of directors of our local fire protection district of which I am a member. Despite the cutbacks that came last year and will likely come again this year from our morally and fiscally bankrupt state, we are trying to figure out how to improve medical response services (and therefore save human lives) by putting an Emergency Medical Technician on every engine that is called to an incident. The chief priced out a $275,000 strategy to purchase supplies and train and provide bonuses for 6 of our 18 firefighters as EMTs (they’re already paramedics) to serve this role. Before we do, we will conduct a community outreach to explain the problem and ask for subscription services or some other fee support.

The point is that I’m not sure the strategy will work, but we’re going all out for it and taking a proactive stance instead of hitting the bunkers.

So, what exercise could be used get your court team motivated in this direction? How about starting with the old what are we doing well, and not-so-well ice breaker. On the “not-so-well” list, start eliminating programs that drain the court’s energy (to the extent that’s possible). On the “well” list, start figuring out how to do those things even better. Once the team begins looking at positives, the juices start flowing and they feel like they’re accomplishing something instead of bailing out a sinking ship.

I don’t envy any court professional the task of weathering budget cuts, I can only wish them the best of luck. I can also pass along for what it may be worth that funding sources and the public at large are tired of seeing the same old reactions of reducing hours and services.

If you have any successful strategies in dealing with this economic crunch, we’d all love to hear from you.

Chris Crawford

www.justiceserved.com

Photo credit = Licensed for limited use by Cartoonstock.com

Let’s hope we’re not so cynical as to throw in the towel and concede that solving the problem of homelessness in this country is hopeless. Making a difference will require perseverance, coordination of resources, and most of all, leadership. There is also no one-size-fits-all solution … this posting will cover what we’re attempting to do in my community to address this serious problem.

I had the privilege to serve as chairman of the board of the Eureka Chamber of Commerce last year and at the beginning of my term I announced one of my goals as mobilizing the business community to get involved in addressing local homelessness. At the time, I said that some may believe that homeless and business interests are unrelated, but many others see that there is a close connection and a crying need for intervention by everyone who has a stake in community development (economic or otherwise).

They say that if you want to get something done, give it to a busy person. Accordingly, several busy people got together and started laying plans to better manage the existing local homeless programs. Here is what we found:

1. Resources vs Coordination – it is unrealistic to believe that government will come up with additional resources to solve this problem, no matter how worthy the cause may be. The sad reality is that the current budget crisis precludes new funding sources, but upon examination we found that what was needed most was not necessarily more resources (although the service providers could certainly use more funding), but better coordination of existing resources, programs and activities.

2. Performance Metrics – I am a true believer that you can’t manage what you can’t measure. We quickly discovered that homeless-related management information of any kind was scarce, and performance metrics (defining victory) were non-existent.

3. The Criminal Element – much like the chronic mental health issues that too many of our communities deal with, the default triage and treatment solutions absent dedicated public funding to address the problems elsewhere turn out to be the criminal justice system, and specifically the police, prosecution, courts and jails. We were blessed in our circumstance with a local judge who took it upon himself to initiate and operate a homeless court on a shoestring budget with largely volunteer administrative support.

4. Other Government Impacts – homeless issues also creep into other government programs such as schools, health/human services, child protective services, mental health departments, hospitals, job placement services and housing authorities. Accordingly, we put together task force categories to deal directly with clusters of these activities.

We are far from taming this beast, but with the help of a lot of forward-thinking people, we are starting to see progress. Here is what we have on our to-do list …

• Developing a mission statement and charter for an oversight group to provide leadership, coordination and strategic direction.
• Amassing the various local ordinances and state statutes used by law enforcement to cite the homeless into the local court
• Gaining access to the automated case management system made available by the feds to the local county Health & Human Resources Department so the Homeless Court can better track information concerning clients
• Developing a set of performance metrics and a means to track progress resulting from various programs
• … and much more

If you have examples of well run Homeless Courts or intervention programs that are working well in other communities, I’d love to hear from you.

Making a dent in the problem is a big, audacious goal, but one worthy of attention. I’m pleased to play even a small part in this effort.

Chris Crawford

www.justiceserved.com

Photo credit = The Melon blog posting about homelessness in Pierce County, WA

Dear Santa … this has been one helluva year, big guy, and all the good little judges, court managers and staff have worked their tushies off trying to deliver quality justice with scarce resources, no raises and an increasingly cranky public that is only surpassed in its crankiness by the funding authorities. So here is my wish list for our courts and the heroes that work in them.

1. A stable, predictable funding source – OK, things are tough, I get it. We all know it’s time to tighten our belts, postpone big ticket purchases and defer widespread raises. However, we cannot exist without some indication of what we can expect in terms of funding in the next few years. We can’t plan, develop programs, react to caseload shifts and respond to public needs if we have no clue whether this is a temporary blip or a full time hell. You’re not closing the police department or fire department, and you should consider courts in the same category of urgency. As the New York Times opined about the budgetary impacts on NY courts, state courts are not just another government agency. They are at the center of the nation’s legal system and enforcement of the rule of law, handling more than 95 percent of all civil and criminal litigation. This vital institution — constitutionally, an independent, co-equal branch of government — has been spiraling into crisis as cash-starved states struggle with huge deficits.
2. Read the rest of this entry »

The great Court Information Technology Officers Consortium (CITOC) held their annual meeting immediately following the 2009 Court Technology Conference in Denver and one of the powerful items on their agenda was to go around the room and ask how technology has helped to weather the recent financial storms. The responses were revealing.

Here are a few …

• Ask staff how to regain one hour per day – some suggested taming Internet surfing, social media and email as great places to start. This is an odd juxtaposition of technology helping and hindering productivity.
• Move archived files (especially microfiche files) online – staff complained that helping folks to use the fiche readers alone was a major effort.
• Install video equipment in court to use both as an alternative means to capture the verbatim record and for videoconference training and meetings.
• Use Voice over IP to reduce long distance telephone charges.
• Redefine the role of court staff into two career tracks: management and “professional decision resource” in a judicial support capacity.
• One jurisdiction created 16 business reengineering teams with an IT staff person on each.
• Create “skinny” files that rely as much as possible on electronic processing – in this application, just the essential documents were housed in a physical file jacket, mostly for judicial processing.
• Raise revenue using a variety of compliance techniques.
• Centralize paper submission functions and use them as the gateway to migrate to electronic files.
• Use open source software instead of costly name brand products (e.g., Open Office vs MS Office).
• Use and encourage filing agencies to migrate to e-citations as much as possible.
• Delegate routine judicial functions such as distraint (overdue tax) warrants to clerical staff and automate the process as much as possible.
• Beef up data transfers in as many applications as possible.
• Enhance the courts website identifying high touch points with customers as prime applications.
• Add “auto-populate” features to case management systems to cut down on the need for excess key stroke data entry.
• Migrate to Paper-on-Demand.

These are wonderful places to start. Anyone wish to add to the list??

Chris Crawford

www.justiceserved.com

Photo credit = Microsoft clip art

When I was a kid and asked my mother if I could do something or go somewhere and she answered we’ll see, I knew what that meant … NO. Unfortunately, things haven’t changed much in adulthood where people routinely say one thing and mean something else entirely. Let’s look at some examples.

TECH SPEAK

TechRepublic.com had a great blog posting about CIO-speak and cited several examples, including:

I-PHONES - iPhones are more expensive than the smartphone we give our workforce, but they are worth considering for the future. Translation – When pig fly.

FINANCIAL DOWNTURN - Despite the gloomy budget, innovation is still a key function in our IT department. Translation – IT has been cut 28%, we cut 60 positions and canceled 10 projects — innovation?! How ’bout just keeping the lights on?!

OPEN SOURCE - We’re very interested in how open-source technologies can help us reduce our overall IT costs. Translation – You must be kidding. We’ll switch to Macs before we go open source.

GOVERNMENT FUNDING

The federal government has borrowed more in the past 6 months than has been borrowed in the past 30 years combined. State government, especially in California, is a house on fire with partisan bickering and solution paralysis as standard operating procedure. This is my take on gov-speak:

HEALTHCARE – Government run healthcare is the only option to control runaway costs. Translation – You will die of old age in the doctor’s waiting room as everyone awaits permission to take your blood pressure.

REINVENTING GOVERNMENT – Tough economic times such as these are great opportunities to examine service delivery and mission to make the tough choices to streamline government. Translation – This is finally my turn to punish my enemies and create new, worthless programs.

CUTTING WASTE, FRAUD AND ABUSE – We have to cut wasteful spending before we even consider putting an added burden on the taxpayer. Translation – It’s time to screw the disabled, elderly and vulnerable in order to create public outcry to justify my proposed tax increases.

God, I hate being this cynical … just watching this train wreck of irresponsible government and timid IT leadership at a time when we need affirmative action and courage most of all, is debilitating.

So here it is … let’s demand that IT be aligned with the core purposes of our courts and government agencies. Let’s tell our elected officials not to mortgage our future by concocting a massive government run healthcare system. Insist on cutting wasteful programs such as the California Integrated Waste Management Board that serves as a well paid breeding ground for termed-out legislators looking for the next office. Speak out, show up to hearings, serve on boards of directors, run for public office, and generally act as the adult in the room.

We’ll see.

Chris Crawford

www.justiceserved.com

Photo credit – Microsoft clip art

I said it before, and I’ll say it again … I hate meetings. Most are poorly run, have little demonstrated purpose and are called too frequently. If you must subject others to this modern day torture, at least manage the meeting so it has a ghost of a chance of being productive.

Our good friends at Tech Republic published this timely blog posting entitled 10 things you can do to turn useless meetings into productive ones. I’ll recap their list and add a few flourishes of my own …

WHY

If you can’t answer the question of why a meeting is called, you’ve lost the first battle. It also begs the question of what the convener is trying to accomplish. Although it seems incredibly basic, please ask who, what, why, when and where before you call a meeting.

CREATE A MANIFESTO

Once you figure out what you are trying to accomplish by calling a meeting, why not share that with those you invite? Lay out in the invitation and agenda the purpose and proposed deliverables for this meeting.

PREPARE MINUTES

Prepare minutes of the meeting summarizing the actions and follow-up. I was taught early on that minutes should be brief, to the point and action oriented.

ENFORCE THE RULES

We are a nation of laws … meetings are run best when they are run by time tested rules of following the agenda, promoting wide participation by those in attendance and disallowing domination or sidetracking of the meeting. Keeping those in attendance on track means meetings are short and to the point. Just the second-best way I like ‘em … the first-best is not to call one in the first place.

ACTION

As soon as practical, call for the question … get to the point for the meeting and get consensus on the outcome. That also means getting commitments from those from whom action is needed.

UNPLUG

When the meeting is over, end it. If others wish to hand around and socialize, that’s an individual choice. Don’t make everyone stick around for the non-substantive chit chat that often surrounds a meeting.

I’ve got two additional tricks I use besides those tips covered above … first, use a consent calendar if you have ongoing meetings that require housekeeping items such as approval of minutes from previous meetings, approval of accounting reports, acceptance of correspondence, etc. If someone wishes to discuss a particular item or correct the minutes, require that he or she pull that item from the consent calendar for separate action. Otherwise, pass the consent calendar in one move.

My next trick is to err on the side of consensus rather than formalized Robert’s Rules of Order. Unless you are bound by these convoluted rules through bylaws or statute, use the American Bar Association Modern Rules of Order that I find a lot less formal and less restrictive.

Finally, if your meeting is mostly informational, audio or videotape it, or just write it in a report and send it out for others to read at their convenience. Don’t torture everyone through some power play by requiring that they attend a meeting in order to receive one-way communication.

With any luck, you can tame your meetings and not get bit like one half of the famed Siegfred and Roy team.

Chris Crawford

www.justiceserved.com

Photo credit = Robert Scott Hopper

In two recent consulting projects, I made recommendations that the local courts help to establish neighborhood dispute resolution centers where trained mediators would attempt to resolve minor civil and misdemeanor disputes, even before case is filed in court (but certainly a resource to which filed cases could be referred). Since one of those clients asked for follow-up recommendations as to how to implement such a program, I posted an inquiry on the Court2Court listerv and got a terrific response.

Civil alternative dispute resolution (ADR) has long been recognized as a worthwhile effort. In criminal ADR, it is often referred to as “restorative justice.” Here is a summary of the responses …

LUBBOCK, TX

Our court runs a Dispute Resolution Center responsible for mediation services in a number of areas, including neighborhood disputes.  Criminal disputes such as an individual “borrowing” another family member’s car where the police were called are often referred for mediation.  The program handles thousands of those cases per year, which are not filed in the court.  It has been very successful.  The program receives good reviews from victims who often feel like they got the resolution they needed.  As a side note, the Dispute Resolution Center also conducts mediation in almost all of our civil and domestic relations cases (which are automatically referred and must be mediated prior to receiving a trial setting). The service began in 1985 and the court refers pre filed disputes for ADR intervention. The DA has also referred filed  felonies and misdemeanors. We also receive pre filed “neighborhood ” referrals from various law enforcement officers, municipal courts and  JPs.  We are working on some exciting things in this area and I believe the Lubbock delivery model is exceptional.

TALLAHASSEE, FL

Neighborhood Justice Center

918 Railroad Avenue

Tallahassee, FL 32310-4348

Phone: 850-921-6980

Fax: 850-414-0166

E-mail: mwnjc@juno.com

Contact: Ms. Martha Weinstein, Executive Director

I know that Martha Weinstein was the founder and the group initially focused on neighborhood disputes. Apparently, it evolved into a victim/offender restorative justice program. The current Executive Director appears to be Dale Landry. More resources include:

http://www.cjjohns.com/lawpowerandjustice/commentaries/NeighborhoodJustice.html

http://robtshepherd.tripod.com/mengone.html

TULSA, OK

Since 1982, Tulsa has had in place a program known as ‘project early settlement’ handing both civil and criminal matters and the court is now referring disturbing the peace cases to attempt resolution between neighbors. LeLani Armstrong is the Director of the Project. If you will go to our website, www.cityoftulsa.org, and click on the tab ‘early settlement.’ Early settlement of minor criminal offenses can help restore the peace and harmony between those affected..it is truly a noble project……

ESSEX VICINAGE IN NEWARK, NJ

They were using the Mediator concept extensively  when I was there in 2003, and they worked at the courthouse in a huge room full of conference room stalls with partitions.  The mediators would sit down with the parties, and when necessary an interpreter, and tackle all sorts of issues. I would assume and hope it is still functional.  As I remember it was just for civil cases and it worked amazingly well.

MICHIGAN COURTS

Michigan has a network of 20 community dispute resolution centers and their work with courts spans an array of dispute types ranging from small claims and general jurisdiction general civil and domestic relations cases, to guardianship, child protection and special education cases.  Approximately 80% of the cases managed at the centers are court referred. The 2008 program annual report appears here:

http://courts.michigan.gov/scao/resources/publications/reports/CDRPAnnualReport2008.pdf

Website: http://courts.michigan.gov/scao/dispute/odr.htm

LOS ANGELES, CA

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office conducts a Hearing Officer Program which is a arbitration like program conducted by a Hearing Officer.  They handle minor misdemeanor matters such as neighborhood disputes, petty theft, trespassing, loitering etc.

KLAMATH COUNTY, OR

The Court helped start a neighborhood dispute resolution center about 10 years ago. At that time, there was a small amount of funding available for these services through a small surcharge on civil filings. The Center initially trained a cadre of community volunteer mediators and then opened to provide community services. If I recall correctly, there was a paid part-time Executive Director and one staff person.

Funding rapidly became an issue. In most disputes, of course, there is at least one party that has no interest in a timely resolution. Since mediation is generally voluntary, it became problematic to get the parties into mediation, especially if the involuntary party had to pay for mediation services. Unfortunately, the court didn’t have enough funds to provide financial support to the Center either. Eventually, the Center simply failed to develop adequate funding sources and folded some 6 to 8 years after it had begun.

Since our judges are fully supportive of pre-trial mediation, the Court now operates a small claims mediation program. Before a small claims matter is set for trial, the parties are required to attend a mediation orientation session and at least to meet with a mediator and the other party. After that, participation is voluntary. This program is operated with Court staff who have received the full 40-hour mediation course and practicum required in Oregon. (As a side benefit, approximately a third of our staff are trained problem-solvers, a real advantage in general day-to-day interpersonal relations.)

We also tried a cooperative project with the Communications classes of our local college. Under that program, we assist the student-mediators in getting their practical training and mediator-qualification requirements met, in exchange for their volunteer services in our small claims mediation program. As a practical matter, once the students have completed their requirements, they rarely remain involved in the program.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Association for Conflict Resolutions

Mediate.com

Hawai’i Courts’ Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution

Kudos to the National Center for State Courts for their terrific Court2Court listserv and many thanks to the court managers who took the time to respond. If you don’t currently subscribe to C2C, I highly recommend it.

Chris Crawford

www.justiceserved.com

Photo credit = Microsoft clip art