time bound

Whether it’s controlling the dog on an afternoon walk, or controlling your plans with friends. Perhaps it’s controlling the team at work or your personal finances. Perhaps it’s being the most successful person in your group. Whatever it is, it’s a big deal!

We are all humans. We all crave control. And that’s okay.

Most understand. Most also understand it can drive you crazy because…

Not all things in life can be controlled.

No matter how hard you try, some circumstances are unforeseeable.

You can get your car serviced, wash it, polish it, and clean the leather. But it’s not going to stop you from having an accident.

And once you have an accident, you can feel as though you’re on a slippery slide. But unlike a normal slippery slide, you haven’t initiated the descent. Someone has put you at the top and pushed you.

Because nobody ever gets into their car if they know they are going to have a car crash, right?

Right.

You can never be certain when that will happen.

Unforeseen accidents can rob you of your ability to work. Your ability to play. Your ability to have independence. Your ability to have control of your life.

And you shouldn’t be robbed of any more than you have. After all, you’ve worked hard. You’ve oiled your car. You’ve taken care of the leather. You’ve had it serviced. And you’ve paid your insurance premiums. You don’t deserve to be robbed of any more.

Insurance after a car accident is designed to give you back what you’ve lost. But when you go to make a claim, things are not always as clear as they were when you paid your premiums. Delay and denial tactics from the insurer can leave you frustrated.

And the best way to defeat delay and denial tactics from an insurer is with a lawyer. A lawyer that you can control.

It’s really quite easy. You take control by quite literally using CONTROL©.

What is CONTROL©?

It is a simple audit process to put you back in the driver’s seat.

A seven step process to guarantee faster, fairer payouts. A process to refine and perfect the quality of the legal advice you receive. A bulletproof process for total certainty.

The seven step CONTROL© Audit is simple. Each letter of the word is a step in the process. And together, the steps guarantee every element of work performed, every piece of legal advice, is in your control:

It’s a matter of asking your lawyer some simple questions, which will be outlined in a minute. Their answers will determine whether you will be guaranteed:

The fourth step in the CONTROL© audit is assessing whether the process is time bound.

The same goes for your insurance claim.

Many people want things over as quickly as possible. And who can blame them? You can finally close that chapter of your life, and look forward to a happier, healthier future.

The happier, healthier future you desire doesn’t have to be as far away as people make it out to be.

If you work with a lawyer who is deadline driven, you’re guaranteed your compensation quicker than a lawyer who drags things out.

We can all agree that’s how it works. When deadlines are set, things are done in a timely manner.

Deadlines give you a goal. They give you focus. They give you urgency. They give you accountability. And they give you motivation.

When you’re motivated to achieve, you are guaranteed to succeed. On the flip side, when you aren’t motivated, deadlines are not met. Goals are not achieved. Things go wrong.

Missing deadlines might mean missing tickets to your favourite concert. It could be losing $150 when you pay your car rego late. Or it could be something as simple as not organising who picks up your son from swimming training.

Regardless of what it is, missing deadlines is not desirable.

Project management systems such as Monday.com, Asana, or GANTT Charts are a way for professionals to keep on top of projects. It ensures the projects are finished quickly and on time.

Below is an example of a GANTT chart. It graphically represents a group of tasks required to perform an F1 tire change.

Each colour block is a new task to be performed. And each task has a team or person allocated to it. And each person has a quick deadline for their specific task.

The total deadline in this example is 6 seconds. A normal F1 pit stop will take just 2.

Understandably, that seems impossible. And understandably, the chart looks confusing.

Honestly, F1 pit stops are. Just like the compensation pitstops.

They are the most complex in motor sports.

The process is so finely orchestrated that one wrong move can be catastrophic. If the driver pulls in just a few centimetres too far, the entire crew has to take half a second to adjust. In a two second turn around, that’s a 25% time loss.

If the team fails to communicate properly, messages can be mixed. The light can turn green before everyone is safely clear.

A failure that cost a mechanic time in hospital, Ferrari a €50,000 fine, and the team a chance at the podium.

Ricciardo also lost his chance at the podium at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2016. His pit team failed to prepare. His wheel crews were not ready. Neck and neck for first until the pit stop. His pit crew’s disorganisation cost him the trophy.  

It’s these “little leaks” that sink “big ships”.

The energy of an organised team that communicates well is plain to see. When it works, it works. The fluidity is awe inspiring. It is poetry in motion. It is easy, it is smooth, and most importantly, the process is fast.

And the process is only fast when all the leaks are fixed. When all the communication is clear. When all the parties are prepared.

When everyone is using a project managed system.

Project managed systems, such as GANTT charts, are a simple reminder of what needs to be done, when they need to be done.

They are very, very, very effective when used by lawyers. A profession notorious for dragging things out.

They also allow you to keep track of your legal professional’s progress. You will have a deadline in which you can hold them accountable to. A deadline that will give you control and certainty over the speed of the process.

A project managed lawyer will give you every task broken down, with individual deadlines for each. Deadlines that keep you in the loop. Deadlines that provide updates. Deadlines that allow you to track progress.

An example GANTT chart for a project managed lawyer can be found below.

Much like the F1 Gantt chart, it can look confusing. But if your lawyer uses plain English words with obvious meanings, you will understand every step. Every step will be crystal clear.

It needs to be crystal clear. Because in each of those steps is another process with strict deadlines. For example, the “Investigations” stage will contain basic evidence gathering.

It has to.

Because things like surveillance and CCTV footage often lasts 30 days before they are recorded over. That means you have a 30 day deadline from the date of accident to gather CCTV footage.

A lawyer who doesn’t use a project managed system will easily overlook this. It could be day 60 before they start contacting businesses, asking for CCTV footage.

And by that point it’s much too late. The chances of collecting surveillance footage is next to none.

Ensuring your lawyer is time bound using strict deadlines, you will: