Zen and the Art of Programming

Presented By:

Raymond Lee
The Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia

Presented at:
ACLEA 52nd Annual Meeting
July 30 – August 2, 2016
Seattle, Washington
 Raymond Lee
The Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia

Raymond Lee, Program Lawyer, Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia (CLEBC),
Vancouver, Canada. Raymond was called to the BC Bar in 1986 and practiced as a litigator until joining
CLEBC in 2005. Raymond has served as Co-chair of the ACLEA State and Provincial Bar SIG and the ACLEA
International SIG. He has also served as a member of ACLEA's Executive Committee 2011-2013, In 2011
his program “New Civil Rules 2010” was the winner of an ACLEA's Best Award for Outstanding
Achievement in Programming. More recently, Raymond has served as the Chair of the ACLEA San Diego
2015 Planning Committee and as the Past Chair for the ACLEA Chicago 2015 Planning Committee.
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Raymond Lee, CLEBC

ACLEA Seattle 2016

 This session is intended to complement the

paper on Programming Best Practices --- that
paper is in the conference materials .
 This session will present a conceptual
framework with which to view the big and
small issues we must manage when
programming CLE.
 This session is not authoritative on Zen or
Programming.

 Law’s Empire
 Lawyers and Judges
 Legal Education
 Legal Education and CLE
 Our role in CLE , as course programmers

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 Resources are limited

 Volunteers are busy
 Customers are demanding
 Customers are cost conscious
 Competition in CLE
 Technological Change
 Life’s Surprises

 Implications of the interplay of these factors

for the Programming Process

 Ideas to Course Concept

 Initiate work with course chairs
 Development of the course agenda
 Identify and recruit course faculty
 Work up the Marketing of the course
 Support the faculty and refine course design
 Pre-course meeting(s) & communications with
faculty
 Course day matters
 Post course matters

 What you are managing:

1. People
2. Process
 To arrive at the product --- a course with
reference materials

 Be hard on the process

 Be soft on people

 My Magic question ---- “What can I do to move

us forward on this?”

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 Programming is analogous to preparing for

combat.
 How then do you prepare for, and respond to,
the demands of programming?
 1) Mind (your attitude)
 2) Method (how your use your resources)
 3) Muscle (your resources --- honed)
 The goal is to get process flow with minimal
friction.

 Know your Core Elements – master them

 Secondary details flow from Core Elements
 Once you have a workable core and
secondary details you can work on refinement
 Method is key --- the mind can be trained to
synch with method which is the path to full
actualization of mind.
 Train the mind, refine your method and build
your muscle --- but muscle is least
important.

 Break complex matters down into a functional

default framework
 See quickly --- move quickly and decisively -
-- before a threat becomes problem
 Mind is more important than method. Agility
can overcome process.
 With clarity of mind --- the best course of
action will follow naturally.
 The best outcome is often times an adequate
solution delivered quickly rather than the
perfect solution delivered late.

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 Simplicity for yourself (what is your self

organization?)
 Simplicity for your colleagues (your
interface with your org process)
 Simplicity for faculty (their interface with
your org.)
 Q: How Should a Program Lawyer lead?
 A: The best leadership is encouraging but
done with a light touch
 Lao Tzu: When the best leader’s work is
done the people say “We did it ourselves.”

 Are at the center of all of this …

 Take care of your self, mentally & physically

 Your attitude is important

 Your reputation is critical
 Know your limitations
 When the going gets tough -- Mindfulness

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 This is where you add value as a CLE

specialist
 Faculty are subject matter experts – that does
not make them the best or even decent
educators.
 Play to individual strengths: some are better
writers, others are better presenters ---
some can do both well.

 Choose your course Chairs carefully ---

perhaps the most important single decision
 Look Beyond the Usual Criteria
 There is no one type which makes for a great
course chair.

 They are important – do not forget this!

 We want to support them in their roles
 The relationship is key
 Help them to succeed in their goals
 Take a personal interest in them

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 Appreciate and adjust for personality

differences
 Hone your interpersonal communication skills
 Styles across the different bar segments
 Age and generational differences
 Diversity ---Supporting minority groups
 First Among Equals --- a helpful framework
 Be careful with type inventories eg MBTI –
use with caution

 Check your ego

 You will sometimes have to deal with large
egos --- that has to be OK with you
 Don’t take rejection personally
 Sometimes it helps to have thick skin
 Sometimes difficult decisions --- you will be
OK as long as your are taking a principled
position.

 Why would they work with you and your org?

 Try not to close any doors.
 The bar is small --- what goes around comes
around --- always use good judgment
 The collegiality aspect of doing CLE should
not be overlooked.

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 Make it fun --- pre-course meetings or

course day can be livened up --- be creative.
 CLEBC has VMARC and we are working to
improve volunteer management and
recognition.

 The Socratic method is long standing ll and

and well established …
 Then came the classroom …

 Online and the movement away

from talking heads
 Develop your instructional toolkit
 Telling Ain’t Training
 Our future instructional toolkit

 Organization: Have your system --- use it

 Always know the next step forward and who
is on it --- if nobody then it must be you!
 The Program Lawyer’s Job: Achieving and
Maintaining Momentum

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 Use checklists
 Standardize what can be standardized
 The Checklist Manifesto, Atul Gawande

 The panel – your basic unit of production

 Delegation– designate a panel leader at start
 Advise on the options on how to get the
content out

 Faculty Meetings: a story about the process of

getting lean

 What I used to do c. 2005

 What I now do --- since 2015

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 What are you competing on?

 Hint --- the price is not right.

 Back up a step --- ask the right questions

 Customer Intelligence
 We have surveys
 We have marketing data from the web site
 Talk to your customers

 You want to be able to blend big data with

conversations with your chairs, faculty and
registrants ---- concerning course content.

 The neat stuff is happening here.

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 For trends with technology and education The

Horizon Report ---- comes out annually ---
available free of charge online.

 Getting Things Done (2001) and revisions by

David Allen
 The Checklist Manifesto (2009) Atul Gawande
 First among Equals How to Manage a Group
of Professionals (2002) by Patrick J.
McKenna, David H. Maistre
 Telling Ain’t Training (2d) (2011) by Harold D.
Stolovitch, Erica Keeps

 Barking up the Wrong Tree --- blog by Eric

Barker
 The Horizon Report

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Yin: Soft Elements Yang: Hard Elements

People Process
Psychology Systems
Holistic Linear
Emotional Connection Rationality

 The next phase of your journey starts now….

 Raymond Lee, Program Lawyer

 CLEBC
 #500-1155 West Pender St. , Vancouver BC
 V6E 2P4

 604-893-2112
 raymondl@cle.bc.ca

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