ITSM Uncovered

My philosophy has always been that change is good. It is refreshing, an opportunity to improve, to explore and generally move forward. Unfortunately, when attempting to change a work culture evolved from years of good people operating in silos, it is guaranteed that sooner or later you slowly begin to see that as the business grows, so does the complexity of the technology deployed.

This is where I would like to use a very effective analogy. When I was in Marine Corps boot-camp, we were required to become “Swim-Qual’d.” It isn’t something many think about when enlisting in the Marines. As such there are always those who either don’t know how to swim or have very poor swimming skills. The Marines don’t care. You enlisted, you will be given basic instruction on what is required, and you will qualify.

For me this was not a problem. For others however, this was a different experience, one that involved a certain amount of anxiety and panic. The Marine swim instructors made one point very clear. Do not panic in the water. If you are in trouble, they will assist. If, in your moment of panic you resist the instructors, you will be let go of. The reality version of the term “Sink or swim.”

Changing the culture of technology, introducing new industry standards and processes, essentially altering the way people have worked for years is one of the most difficult things that an implementer faces. This is made even more difficult when the implementer is embedded in a chain of command that doesn’t fully understand the method or complexity in achieving the value of change.

Many technology publications outline the benefits of ITSM, ITIL, Six Sigma, SOA, MOF and others practices. These are outstanding motivators to the technology manager faced with a business demand for growth and stability in the technology environment. It is the typical gap that is missing the analysis. Business demand and instability, those are the triggers that begin the search for solutions or “magic beans.” ITSM and corresponding frameworks and practices are right there to appear to provide the solutions. Not much thought is given to the road that must be travelled to achieve a managed service.

That road is the path of change. It can not be ignored, it can not be underestimated and most of all, it should not be feared. For to not support, embrace and champion that change will only result in delays, frustration and failure.

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.