Some documents are not apt to be automated. Sometimes, you need to draft something from scratch. If it’s a big document, the hardest part is getting started. You procrastinate, waiting for a suitable slot in your diary. You do other smaller tasks – anything to avoid confronting a blank page and turning it into a finished document. 

If you could just get started, you could get into a flow. If starting were easy, you would do it.

Use a template to get started

Use a template to help your team members get started. Reduce some of the tedious steps. Some suggestions:

• • Does your document need a house-style with layouts and perhaps some standard text to begin and end? Put it in a template.
  • Does your document need some sections of standard text? For example, contract documents need ‘boilerplate’ clauses. Insert them into a template. Create a simple menu to select which boilerplate clauses are required. Let Legito insert them (and make sure that any dependent text gets added, such as definitions).
  • Does your document have a standard structure, even if the content is variable? Consider using the template to add section headings to create an outline.
  • Will you need to add attachments which the template could insert from a library?
  • Does your document need to include regulatory wording that gets modified occasionally? Let your Compliance team maintain the text and have confidence that the template will correctly add it to relevant documents.

Could you start on the outline and then use Legito to forward the document to a colleague to insert their contribution where it’s needed?

Perhaps you can create a template that starts life as a tool for creating a rough draft, and then develop it over time. You don’t need to wait until it’s 100% finished. The 80/20 rule means it could be helpful even if the template creates a good starting point but not a finished document.

Make it easier for your colleagues to get started.

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