OVERVIEW

Currently, when lawyers try to collaboratively track their research, a separate tracking document is created and researchers need to remember to update it regularly. They usually don't. Captain's Log is embedded directly into the research tool, so tracking research becomes a part of the research process itself.

DETAILS

My Role: Project Management, Research and Synthesis

Teammates: Tara Loboda, Mark Micheli, Angel Yu, Joy Chen

Context: Student Project

Skills:

  • Contextual Interviewing
  • Affinity Diagramming
  • Flow Modeling
  • Culture Modeling
  • Storyboard Speed Dating
  • Poster Presentation

OUR PROCESS

CONTEXTUAL INTERVIEWS

Our team developed an interview protocol and interviewed three junior lawyers who do research frequently as part of their job.


MODELS

We had interpretation sessions for each interview, and consolidated individual flow models into a single sequence-flow model that represented the research process across all our interviews. We also built a cultural model to help us understand the context in which we would be designing.


AFFINITY DIAGRAM

We used interpretation notes from our interviews to build an affinity diagram from the bottom up.


VISIONING

By "walking the wall", analyzing our affinity diagram, flow model and cultural model, we were able to identify breakdowns in the process that could bedesign opportunities. Focusing on these design opportunities, we engaged in improvisational visioning sessions to generate preferred futures and design ideas.


STORYBOARD SPEED DATING

Using the design ideas we generated through visioning, we created 15 concept storyboards. We shared them with three junior lawyers, who do research frquently as part of their job. We reviewed each storyboard for ~1 minute to get their unfiltered reaction to the concept. Most of the reactions were lukewarm, but all three lawyers reacted excitedly to one of the storyboards representing a collaboration tool built into their research tool.


THE SOLUTION

We narrowed in on collaboration as a design opportunity because of the overwhelmingly positive reactions we got to it during the storyboard speed dating. We revisited the critical gaps in collaboration from our affinity diagram and created a solution to meet those needs.

We designed Captain's Log to:

  1. enable collaboration by creating transparency about research within a legal firm
  2. track the flow of research making it easier for lawyers to jump in and out as necessary
  3. create learning opportunities by sharing research logic

Captain's Log is embedded directly into the research platform, prompting lawyers to record brief notes at important intervals, so that tracking becomes a natural part of the research process itself.


POSTER PRESENTATION

We had the opportunity to pitch Captain's Log in a poster presentation to a client who is trying to expand the user base of their research platform to include lawyers.