ITSM Uncovered

There are mainly two core elements to technology: infrastructure and development. The deployment of these elements and understanding how they are leveraged together is key to any successful organization. Each contains various flavors of implementation that are fundamentally designed to service the business mission. Some provide competitive advantages while others are generally designed to keep the plant operating and are not unique to a specific corporate business process.

Infrastructure is the true foundation upon which all technology rides. In many ways it is not unlike the plumbing, electric, foundation and framing of a house. It is the base that technology depends on to exist. For a start-up, simply getting the business off of the ground distracts from the longer term vision for the company. A technology trap many fall into.
As with a home, designing the right infrastructure will make or break how your technology evolves to meet the business needs both in the immediate and long term. Imagine designing and building a two bedroom home for a newly married couple. It suits their immediate need in starting their new life together. But what happens four years later when they are planning on their second child? That two bedroom begins to not seem as appealing as it once did; a true problem of capacity planning.

Plan, design and build for growth. If you don’t get these right, chances are the results will be both painful as well as costly. Infrastructure however, has an image problem. The power of infrastructure lies not with what the business or end users can see, touch or experience. Because of this, it is often overlooked in terms of investment. This fault is usually what bites most businesses in the ass when system failures begin to occur.

Development on the other hand, is usually the most visible and highly touted. It is these products that ride on the users desktop and provide the entry point to business functionality needed to complete the corporate mission. Whether that development is provided internally, via large commercial software houses or 3rd party vendors, the role is clear: Deliver core business process functionality.

It is assumed, although not always the case, that developers understand the business processes and are able to work it into their design to develop effective solutions. Internal development takes that concept even further as these groups exist within the company to provide custom solutions that deliver a presumed competitive advantage within a specific industry. For those companies who can afford this option, the value is clear as it can provide an edge over competitors in the never ending fight for market share. More importantly, it comes down to control. Proprietary applications that may contain functionality based on processes developed from within an organization can leverage the business knowledge in a way that drives development into very specific directions. The disadvantage with any software application regardless of who develops it, is that like Infrastructure, when it fails, there is a direct impact to business.

In the new-world order of Technology, there is a third element to IT which, like the Infrastructure, goes relatively unnoticed until something breaks. This is not software, nor it is hardware, let’s call it what it is; People. Yes, people run the infrastructure and people write code, but then there is Jack O. All-trades. The individual who knows a lot about infrastructure and development, yet also has that special skill to be able to communicate with the customer. Jack is not a Systems Administrator, nor a C# or C++ coder. Nope, this individual knows about Command Windows, X-Terms, Consoles, Windows Scripting Host, SQL Queries, HTML and Java development, tools of the trade. Jack knows how to run IP Config on a Laptop and understand what DNS servers it is connecting to, while running a shell script to recursively remove files from at TMP directory.

More importantly, Jack knows how to explain to the customer that their computer isn’t connecting to the web because when they booted their machine up, it did not pick up a new IP address or DNS settings from the DHCP servers which might be due to a faulty Ethernet cable, port, DHCP isn’t configured or the LAN may just be down. No, Jack will simply say “Let me take a look and see what I can do to get you up and running again.” Take a second or two to run IP Config /all to check under the hood, discover that all network connections appear in order, see’s the lights on the Ethernet port flashing, confirming network connectivity; run IPConfig /release + IPConfig /renew, Ping a few hosts or websites and viola~! Turning back to the user, simply says “There you go, back up and running. If you have any more problems, please let us know and we’ll get right on it.” Jack is on his way again.

This is an example of customer service and support skills in action, leveraging the basic tools of the trade that go unrecognized as a valid technology field in it’s own right. Of course this was a very basic example which does go much deeper than that in terms of ensuring that business services and users are not impacted by infrastructure or development system failures. It is not some individual with English as a second language behind a desk reading from a script calling themselves IT Support (I’m sure I will have more to write about in that space.) I am referring to that undervalued and overlooked position on the front lines of technology, leveraged as a critical element to an effectively run technology environment. This group of individuals needs to be recognized as the not just a “IT guy/gal”, but that bridge which binds a business to its technology.

The concept of IT Service Management accompanied with the ITIL Framework elicits many different responses from all levels of the organization. From the Management side, the general focus question is "What will it cost me?" From Middle Management it is; "How will I allocate resources?" and to the man or woman on the front lines it is "What are you thinking!?" The latter is always the voice that is often missed in communicating the benefits to the organization.

There is plenty of talk targeting the implementation of ITSM or ITIL revolving around defining business requirement to drive IT Services. Processes and steps to providing these services in the most efficient and cost effective manner is not always addressed. Even with the best intention of proactive management of IT environments to predict and support future business growth or potential weak points, communicating that is often an uphill battle day one.

These are all very valid points in delivering a true Service Management environment to any business. In order to achieve this, one area is consistently overlooked; the role of the individual. This can be attributed to the fact that unlike processes or tools, it is extremely difficult to discover, identify and document. It is the intangible element.

Processes can be defined, people can't. Many implementers, whether internal to an organization or brought in from the outside to consult on what needs to occur to improve IT Service to the Business are very versed in the tactics needed to implement any of the areas of IT Service Management. The challenge is convincing the individual that what is being proposed can inevitably make their lives easier.

Communication needs to be tailored to the hands-on audience, much in the same light as you would with Management or even Middle-Management. There is a benefit that needs to be explained to gain buy-in. Explaining the monetary benefits and ROI to senior Management is only one piece of the puzzle. Determining the most effective methods of resource management and reporting to Middle Management is also part of the critical path. Understanding and communicating the true benefit to the individuals who are tied up with daily projects, firefighting or disgruntled users must not be approached as an afterthought.
The term "Grass-Roots" is often thrown around in various seminars and case studies but there are living, breathing people who comprise this Grass-Roots element that are vital to the success in moving forward with any attempt to become a high performance organization. True leaders realize this; successful programs are ones that focus on all levels of the organization.

So what is the key? Some believe that a complete buy-in and enforcement from Senior Management by default, forces the organization to comply. This is not to say that Senior Management buy-in and commitment is not important, but to get to the goal faster, having a motivated, mobilized workforce behind the effort will accomplish tasks and milestones more effectively if the troops are made to feel as if they are part of the solution on delivering the end product.

The truth of the matter is, everyone has their processes. Some good, some bad and some definitely ugly. Nevertheless, they are processes that people put time and effort into developing to make their own contribution to the organization better. Discounting these efforts by pushing new unfamiliar process framework from the top down is not necessarily the right approach. The fact is, that people take pride in their work and are resistant to anything new or mis-branded to make their job seem inefficient.

Then there is the concern about Job security. Many only see a program on Process Improvement, standardization and enhancements, coupled with terms like improved resource management as buzz words to cut head-count. If you are in the position of deploying an IT Service Management Agenda across your organization you have to take into account the human side of the deployment and recognize what is not always being spoken.

It is critical that you provide comfort in the new processes as much as you do selling the need to enhance them. Ignoring the on-the-ground concerns in any implementation of process improvement will only result delays and push back as walls are put up in sub-conscious efforts to protect the domain of the individual. Then you have a nasty mutiny to deal with.

When defining the roles of those charged with driving these new process initiatives, give some thought to the soft-skills side of the communication process. Simply being good at translating the ITIL Framework or Service Management process in general terms is not good enough.
Being able to "dumb-down" ITIL-Speak in a way that can convey benefit and value to be digested by the organization is critical. It takes time and understanding of who you are dealing with, but this is time well spent in terms of moving the program ahead. It is always easier to form an alliance up front than to tear down walls later.

As with civilizations evolution can seem like a daunting task to some willing to take on the challenge of growth. This is no different in the enterprise. Any major corporation started from some seedling of a company. As such every aspect of the organization evolved. Whether it be accounting, HR or the manufacturing line, it all grows, changes and adapts to the scale at which the company grows. The same could be said for Technology within that company. The interesting thing is that this growth and evolution occurs without anyone realizing; that is, until it is too late.

I recently left a global enterprise organization after 9 years and even in that short span of time, relatively speaking, I witness a substantial amount of growth and towards the end was faced with trying to figure out how we ended up in the technological mess we did. I likened it to the home entertainment system that evolves over time. At first there are a few components and wires. As more is added so to are more wires. One day one of the components breaks and needs to be replaced as you sit bewildered looking at a spaghetti mess of wires that you know deep inside will require a complete tear down and re-wire.

Most organizations hit this wall as well. It is however, the fear of tearing everything apart to make it better that proves to be the hurdle that in some cases can be very difficult to comprehend if not take on. It is a technological fear by most to abandon the way "it has always been done" for a new way of looking at things.

This is my latest challenge having joined a company that is has reached that point of maturity that demands something be done in order for growth to continue. More importantly it has reached that point where instability begins to creep in and become unmanageable. There are frameworks that abound fully aware of this conundrum and provide a roadmap on how to approach these challenges. The interesting thing is that while the fundamentals are predominantly common sense, the resistance that is put up to the change is incredible.

This makes my work so much more interesting. I used to pride myself on being a "Jack-of-all-trades" within the realm of technology. There was one non-techonogical skill however that was not part of the deal. One which I carried with me from my days as a broadcaster. That is the ability to communicate. The thing is, management is always open to advancement and changing an environment for the better. I mean why wouldn't they, the don't have to do the bulk of the work but really like to take the majority of the credit when all is said and done. So what I have seen happen is that the ITSM buzzwords have crept into the organization, management has sampled the kool-aid, bought some and begun serving it up to the staff with no clear understanding of what it will take to get the job done.

Then I walk into a very open, yet apprehensive crowd introducing them to all sorts of new terminology, concepts, ways of looking at incident management not to mention the connections between Change, Configuration and Capacity Management. But these are all taken with a grain of salt until practical examples are provided to demonstrate the gaps in the existing models. What happens next is pure 100% human nature. Defensiveness.

Phrases like "That will never work here"; "We'll never be able to get that pushed through" begging to rise up against the effort. Good thing for me I am pretty much an evangelist. More importantly I am driven to making this work because I know it can. So for anyone hoping to introduce some form of ITSM into an organization that has been around for a while, take note... be prepared for the negativity. The nay-sayers will be gunning for you. Check your notes, your facts and be prepared to take on any and all challengers. Just make sure you do it in a way that points out the benefit AFTER you show them the errors of their ways.