Scope changes are an inevitable part of document review projects. One minute, everything is moving according to plan. You have the right sized team in place, timelines feel realistic, and throughput is steady. The next minute, scope is expanding and deadlines are accelerating, or, if you’re really lucky, both hit at once.
When this happens, simply adding more reviewers may seem like the obvious solution. In reality though, when you’re faced with significant changes, that approach often creates inefficiencies. Bigger teams can mean more time training, more inconsistency, and more coordination overhead. In times like this, you need to work smarter, not harder, which starts with taking a step back and reassessing.
Assess the Impact
When project variables change, the first step is to evaluate how those changes affect the current trajectory:
Team Capacity & Schedules
Reviewer ability often matters more than headcount. Even a well-sized team can fall short if individual schedules don’t line up due to vacations, reduced hours, or competing commitments. Accurate capacity planning ensures projections remain reliable.
Throughput Analysis
Daily review rates provide a baseline for forecasting completion. By comparing throughput against the remaining document population, teams can determine whether the current pace is sustainable or if adjustments are necessary.
Data Source Considerations
Not all documents are created equal. If recently added data resembles previously reviewed material, existing throughput assumptions may hold. However, new or more complex data sources can significantly slow progress and need to be factored into revised estimates.
Deadline Realities
At the end of the day, deadlines dictate strategy. Whether facing a compressed timeline or managing rolling productions, teams must align resources and workflows to meet evolving expectations.
Execute a Revised Strategy
Once the impact is clear, teams should focus on solutions that improve efficiency rather than simply increasing effort.
Reducing Review Volume
Before pushing for increased review speed, steps should be taken to reduce what needs to be reviewed. Techniques such as email threading, junk file removal, and deduplication can significantly shrink the dataset.
Simplifying Review Workflows
If progress is lagging, the workflow itself may be part of the problem. Overly complex tagging structures can drag down throughput. Streamlining issue tags and focusing on essential coding decisions helps reviewers move faster without sacrificing quality. If needed, secondary workflows can be created to handle nonessential coding after production.
Leveraging Advanced Technology
- Active Learning is particularly effective when data sources are consistent. It helps prioritize relevant documents while deprioritizing low-value material. It can also be used to cull review populations by identifying content that is unlikely to require human review.
- AI-driven solutions can analyze large datasets quickly, offering both coding suggestions and supporting rationales. While these tools require upfront setup, they often result in significant time savings for large-scale or time-sensitive reviews. In many cases, the AI solution can handle initial coding while human review teams perform sampling/QC.
Conclusion
Change is a big part of the job in document review. The difference is how teams and providers respond to it. The ability to step back, reassess, and adjust course is what keeps projects on track, especially when things start moving faster than expected.
As with any major change, teams need to stay aligned through consistent communication and a clear understanding of priorities. From there, it becomes less about reacting and more about making deliberate adjustments, because in the end, you can’t control how scope evolves. But you can be ready for it.
Jennifer Andres
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As Vice President of Military Spouse Managed Review (MSMR), Jennifer brings extensive experience to TCDI. Her understanding of document review processes and military spouse lifestyle allowed her to create and implement TCDI’s MSMR offering, which provides remote review opportunities for military spouse legal professionals across the United States. She successfully manages and trains teams of attorneys, paralegals, and administrative staff on review, coding, and management tasks related to document review.
