Older, wiser, and after 4,500 posts, time to rethink my 12 substantive categories

With 4,500 posts under my belt, I looked back over the distribution of posts by the dozen substantive categories I use.

Outside Counsel Mgt. (976)
Talent Mgt. (602)
Mgt. Tools and Initiatives (566) Productivity (428) Controlling Legal Costs (428) Metrics and Benchmarks (224) Structure (213) Showing Value (166) Client Satisfaction (133) Decisions and Cognitive Styles (128) Technology (112) Knowledge Mgt. (107)

Somewhat ruefully, I wish I had put many of the posts that languish in “Mgt. Tools and Initiatives” into the more specific category to which they pertain, such as tools to control costs or initiatives to improve talent. With that reassignment, many other posts in the category might properly belong to “Productivity.” “Technology,” I realize now, is a productivity tool usually, so I could roll them together.

Similarly, many “Metrics and Benchmarks” pertain to a more focused category, such as outside counsel or structure. “Controlling Legal Costs” has evolved mostly to cover controlling non-law firm legal costs. I have come to believe that “Showing Value” should have been a part of “Client Satisfaction.”

Another consolidation would be to roll “Decisions and Cognitive Styles” into “Talent Management,” and I might as well pour in “Knowledge Management” at the same time. While I am tidying up, why not drop “Mgt.”? In short, going forward my categories will be “Outside Counsel,” “Talent,” “Costs,” “Structure,” and “Client Satisfaction” (why not “Clients”?).

Thus, legal department management boils down to people inside and out, how they are arrayed, and the associated expenses of serving the corporate client.