So You Want to Create an A2J Tool…

So you want to create an A2J Tool….

Or maybe someone has shown you their A2J Tool and asked for feedback. Or maybe you just saw a A2J tool in the news and were curious about it. With all the hubbub about Do Not Pay (I talked about it here), and especially seeing how people were sort of caught on their back foot about it, I thought I’d take a stab at some of the questions you should ask a founder (or a founder should be prepared to answer) when debuting a A2J product.

I’ve worked in this space for awhile but I am more of an analyst than creator (although I have created.) Real experts in the building world are people like Nicole Bradick, Amanda Brown, and Joseph Schieffer and I believe all of them can be hired to help you.

So, here’s some things to think about. Please feel free to let me know if you see some missing pieces.

Genesis 

1. How did you get the idea to create this tool or service?
2. What problem are you trying to solve?

Design and Plan

1. Are you delivering a service, providing information, automating a process, or a combination?
2. Who is your target audience?
3. Have you met with members of that group or those that currently work with them?
4. If your tool is meant to be used by a non-legal professional, how does your UX meet the needs of a public user? i.e. reading level, explanatory text, limitations to internet access, etc

Pre-Launch

1. What testing was done on your product before launch?
2. Are you partnering with anyone currently working in the space? 
3. Are users informed of the risks of using your tool? How is this done?

QA, Maintenance, Longevity 

1. Who created the content or designed the process of your tool?
2. What is your process to ensure accuracy and monitor changes to law or process?
3. How has the creation of your tool been funded?
4. Do you funders place any limitations on the use or future of your tool?
5. How do you encourage or limit replication of your work? What IP do you enforce on technology or content?

Technology, Privacy and security

1. Does your tool use artificial intelligence? Please describe how it is used.
2. What type of AI is used? How was it trained? How is updated?
3. Is user data used to refine the tool?
4. Where is user data stored?
5. What security is in place for user data?
6. Can users request their data be erased? Can they export it?
7. How long is user data held for?
8. Is user data ever sold or used for product development?
9. Is the underlying code available on a public repository?

Metrics of Success

1. How do you define success for your tool?
2. How are you measuring this?
3. Have you or do you plan on publishing your internal measures of success?