On Moday September 26th, Steven Matthews posed some questions in his post: Legal KM Economics & Realization Rates (Some Questions…) Steven Matthews is the Knowledge Services Director at the Vancouver law firm Clark Wilson LLP. In this role, Steve combines his skills as a web developer with the administration of the Law Library and KM initiatives within the firm. From conceptualization to coding the final product, Steve has been responsible for all Clark Wilson LLP Intranets and public websites since 1998. David Maister’s response is captured in Steven’s subsequent post: David Maister Speaks and I’m Listening! David Maister calls it

[getting] sucked into a very old “short-term impact v. long-term impact” debate.

…and is unassailably correct when he argues:

Is it ever worth getting more efficient than your competitors? The answer must be yes, surely?

FastForward: So why do we have these interminable debates? Because law firms strip mine — taking as much as possible for today. Few trust how revenue will be distributed tomorrow. The same attitude reduces a good deal of the long term investing that would yield competitive advantage over time.