I was correcting the page proofs of the third edition of my “Worldox in One Hour for Lawyers” book (out approx. Sept. 1!) and saw that the proofreader had questioned the word “felt” in the phrase “depends on the firm’s culture and felt needs.”
Yes, there is a difference between felt needs and actual needs. As it happened, somebody presented me with a classic case of the difference the same day.
Some lawyers at a firm that has been running Worldox for a couple of years have expressed a “felt need” for a directory structure and complain that Worldox doesn’t work like this.
As I’ve said many times, if you consider your document store as a gigantic book and you want to located something, there are three ways too do it:
1. Read the book. Obviously very slow.
2. Look through the table of contents (like scrolling up and down a folder tree). Better but still slow.
3. Use a hyperlinked index. Fast and efficient.
So if working with the Worldox index is faster and more productive that scrolling up and down a directory structure (an equivalent of which is provided by Document Types in any event), why is there a “felt need” for a directory structure?
There would seem to be two answers to this. The first is simply “it’s what I’m used to.” But, as one of my clients once said, lawyers have to make changes to their practice all the time to adapt to new laws and standards, why shouldn’t they be willing to make changes based on new or better software and practices? The second answer is more interesting. If you have a manual directory structure you are not tied to firm standards, you can make up any sub-folders you want to meet your momentary needs. This seems reasonable until there are more than one or two people who are using your files. The firm doesn’t have to be very large before “do your own thing” conflicts with the needs of the firm to enable all users to access documents efficiently. So the individual’s “felt need” conflicts very quickly with the needs of the firm. There are, of course, dysfunctional firms that are really just a collection of disparate attorneys where “felt needs” rule, but most successful firms try to adapt some sort of centralized standards of practice.
“Felt needs” certain exit, but they very often conflict with the objective needs of the firm to be as efficient and productive as possible in dealing with their documents (which are, after all, the main “product” of a law firm).