Building the Fair Term Checker App Part 1

Planning out the optionality

Hello and welcome to Verity’s latest series of Clause Play videos! Today, we’re going to explore how to create legal bots and automation tools using a mind map. We have used legal tech platform Josef to build our new Fair Term Checker app but this mind mapping technique can apply when mapping out any piece of automation. Our founder and chief contract enthusiast, Verity White, uses a platform called Coggle to create flexible mind maps that she can modify as needed.

One of the most critical things to remember when building automation tools is to identify the variables that you want to use again later. For example, if you want to address your users by name, you need to ask them to input their name early on in the process.

In part 1 of this video series, Verity will guide you through the changes to the Australian unfair contract terms laws. This app will help people that already know that the new laws apply to their contract and want to check an individual term, as well as, others who don't know whether the updated laws apply to their particular situation.

Verity has created a mind map that allows for both options. Users can indicate whether they want to learn more about whether the updated laws apply to their particular contract or skip ahead and just check the term. However, Verity discovered that some variables might only be present on one side of the tree, which could make it difficult to identify the nature of the agreement.

While some people believe that mind mapping is double handling, Verity feels that it's good to do both. By mapping out the process on a low-tech platform, she can have more control over the process.

Verity has used different colors to differentiate between separate branches of the mind map. This helps to make it clearer and easier to follow. With the mind map in hand, Verity can create the actual automation tool in the app.

We hope that this brief introduction to Verity's mind mapping process has been helpful.

Click here to watch the full YouTube playlist or watch part 1 below

Need help mapping your next automation or legal tech project? Check out our Automation Mapper tool

Want to take a sneaky peak at Checklist Legal's Fair Term Checker App? You can do that below

Transcript from video 

Hello. Verity White from Checklist Legal here. And today I'm excited to take through a little bit of a mind map of how I build bots or automation tools or basically any kind of thing that's a bit of a service or a bit of a process for users to go through. So I use it. Let's get stuck into it.

I use a platform called Coggle but you don't have to use that one. It's just one that I've used for years and years and years, and it's basically a mind mapping tool. You can see here I'm in present mode, but it basically is the same thing when it is in create mode that you can take a take a if I turn that off, you can take a mind map, create it and really flexibly add to it.

I like to be able to change the colors so that that way I can see some of the different things within the different parts of the mind map. And even more importantly, you can actually take bits that you thought you wanted at the front and you can move them somewhere else entirely, which is really useful. It kind of gets a bit clunky if you're kind of scrubbing out on a whiteboard and then you have to redo the whole kind of mind map, all moving post-its around.

I find it quite useful to just build electronically. So let me take you through the mind map. One of the key things to remember when you're building any kind of automation with variables that you're wanting to use again down the track, for example, if you want to use your users name and kind of refer to them as, you know, Hey Verity, you need to ask them to input their name early on.

And for this example, what I'm wanting to do is talk with people and guide them through changes to the unfair contract terms laws. Now, some people might already know that the new laws apply, and so they just want to check a bit of an individual term so that then other people might not know whether or not the updated laws apply to their contract or to their particular situation.

So I wanted to give an option for people to do both. So here you can say the question that I've asked, Would you like to find out more about whether or not the updated laws apply to your particular contract? And they can from there say yes or they can say no. I already know they apply and then they skip ahead to just checking the term.

So from there, what what I discovered, though, when I was actually building this is if I split it off that way, then some of those variables that I might want are then only on one side of the chain so that a tree or branch, so that if I want to know if it's a consumer or a business agreement, for example, I now don't know that on this side of the tree.

So in the actual when I got and I only discovered that when I got into the building because I was kind of thinking from from here. So mapping it out first isn't foolproof. Some people say it's double handling because they like to just build within the app. I think it's really good to do both because otherwise you're stuck with all of your cleverness just in the app and I feel like anything can happen in someone else's app.

I mean, I know whether or not it can all get deleted or however it ends up going, but I always think it saves time. If you map it out on something that's a little bit less low, you're a bit more bit more low tech. So that way you've got a bit more control over it. That's why I love doing these mine maps first.

So in the actual app and I can they perhaps I'll show you in another video what it looks like in the actual app but for now this is how I've mapped it out. So I've got basically the text that I'm going to use. I'm asking questions, I can see the branching, you can see where I've used different colors so that it's really clear for me.

Okay, that's separate branches, because if everything's the same color, it can get a bit. You can get lost in what you're doing, especially when you start having things like this one where you've got one branch over this side, kind of reconnecting with another branch over there. So in this instance, what I've got here, okay, there's a consumer branch.

Yes. If your clients are consumers, it's going to unfair contract terms are going to apply. If it's businesses, then there's a few more little bits and pieces that we need to think about. And so that's the approach that I've taken. And then you can see where over here they kind of all join up and then come back down here.

So we go through the different terms that we're checking. So that's kind of how I've mapped out. The app overall would be really excited to understand how you map out or if you don't map out, maybe you just prefer to do it in the apps. Let me know how do you plan for your automation, all your legal tech apps?

Bye for now!