I attended a recent eDiscovery seminar. I wanted to poll the audience and get your thoughts on this subject. I was advised that you should not document your forensics process (criminal matters) because it then becomes discoverable and could be used against you in a court of law. Example: Let’s assume you have a documented forensics process that spells out you always have a cup of decaf coffee before examining a suspect’s machine. If you begin examining a suspect’s machine and forget to have that cup of decaf coffee you’ve now just made a gaping hole for the defense to use against you. Say goodbye to your credibility, Mr. Expert Witness no more.
On the other hand you must have a documented eDiscovery process (civil litigation). eDiscovery requires that your process is defensible and repeatable. You will need to be able to reproduce your eDiscovery process if called upon. However, there are no stipulations on how granular your process documentation must be. I would not recommend to spell out so many steps in your process that could leave you open for scrutiny. A generally broad eDiscovery process or flow that is published should suffice.
Please share your views below.