Operational clarity before decisions become visible

A practitioner's guide to recurring patterns that shape success and failure in statewide and local court modernization and technology efforts. Section I — Shared Understanding Comes First The Justice Translator Role: Why Alignment Fails Before Technology Does - Why shared language is not shared understanding — and how courts protect themselves from misinterpretation. Visualizing How Your Courts Actually Operate - Why workflows must be mapped by court type and structure, not a

These field notes are written for court leaders, administrators, and peers who are responsible for large-scale justice technology decisions. They are not a checklist, a project plan, or vendor documentation. Instead, they are meant to help you recognize patterns early — before they turn into delays, cost overruns, or operational failures. You can use these notes to: Frame the right questions in governance and oversight discussions Validate whether reported progress reflects

Why courts need technology that understands judicial intent - and how work actually flows after the order is issued In many software systems, orders are treated as static documents once they are entered on the record. Typically, they go through a life cycle of proposed, generated, signed, PDF'd, filed, and stored. In reality, orders are structured decisions  that initiate action across multiple actors, systems, and time horizons. They contain findings, directives, prohibition