ITSM Uncovered

It always baffles me that the only ones who understand ITSM and its various implementations in an Enterprise environment are those who are trying to implement it. They will be the first to tell you all of the roadblocks, hurdles and challenges they face on a single day.

These obstacles are were the majority of blood, sweat and tears are spent during an implementation. The main reason is that everyone focuses on the bells and whistles of tools and process instead of the fundamental building blocks of the human psyche.

It is the stuff of championship teams. Focusing on the human side of any endeavor is key. Getting people on board early on in any process ensures that your ship is moving with the current instead of against it. This article does a good job at outlining the areas that are ignored or overlooked more often than not when trying to shift towards an environment focused on Service. Buy-in involves the entire organization to ensure success, not just the purse-holders who have to fund it.

Many information technology (IT) organizations approach their IT service management (ITSM) and ITIL initiatives from a process or tool perspective; often expecting the organization to simply adopt and adapt to the new process or tool, or "hoping" everyone will buy in when they "see the value."

As a result, many organizations struggle with process adoption and adaptation, limiting the value of ITSM/ITIL and possibly leading to a premature death. The answer to ensuring you gain the greatest value of your ITSM/ITIL initiatives involves ensuring you plan and design for the type and level of governance appropriate for the organization and the initiative(s).

ITSM/ITIL implementations that consider six key organizational and people factors when designing a governance framework significantly improve the likelihood of ITSM/ITIL success. These six factors include:

Culture

Communications, Training and Education

Executive Support and Buy-in

Governance Structure

Roles and Responsibilities

Measurement and Reporting

Read Entire article at itsmwatch.com

Implementing IT Service Management is like baking a cake. There is a basic recipe, but can be whipped up in any manner the pastry chef decides. Like a recipe, baking up a good batch of ITSM cupcakes requires a list of ingredients which is where frameworks like ITIL come into play.

I'm getting hungry so enough with the cupcakes... To deliver effective Service Management requires many things, but there are two that most people I have run across forget about: People and Process. The two are, to me, the fundamental basis for which any framework is based. ITIL is no exception.

The problem with ITIL is that as a framework, there are so many individual focus areas, that it becomes too easy to lose sight of the big picture or how these 'pieces' fit together in such a way that the value begins to emerge. Like a jigsaw, you don't really see this picture until the pieces begin to fall into place.

What you will find in this journey are organizations who have reached a level of self-proclaimed "ITSM nirvana" are always preaching about how great it is to be efficient and operating at a level that allows true streamlined IT Operations. Don't believe the hype. No organization that has a relatively effective ITSM instance arrived there as effortlessly as many make it sound. That is part of the problem. Like snake oil, or the miracle diet, successful implementations of ITIL components are always verbally sold as the elixir that cures whatever ails you instantly. In reality, there is much in the way of pain that needs to be endured before you find that light and enter into it.

There are no silver bullets or road maps highlighting shortcuts; just a view of what life could be like with the right process, people and tools in place. How you get there is controlled by factors that you may never have considered prior to starting your journey to enlightenment. You should never forget that there will be pain, there will be work, there will be a level of commitment that is required to make the inevitable leap of faith that is required as you begin to move in a direction that will eventually begin to add value to your organization.

Many technology departments are under fiscal pressure never seen in the industry before. This is driving the need to focus on doing more with less while sustaining a level of service to the business. HA! GOTCHA! I wanted to throw that in to raise a bit of a panic. The way to look at the whole "More with Less" phrase should not be viewed in the historical sense, meaning people are expendable. I present it as people providing MORE value with LESS noise or distractions.

Again, at the root of everything is the IT professional who is often under-utilized and under-valued because they are burdened with inefficient processes, time consuming tasks or trying to keep their heads above the water, all in an effort just to keep the plant running. This is where the true financial loss to business occurs. Why hire top tier computer science graduate, just to have them spend their days updating spreadsheets, sending email and running scripts? It is time to look to become more efficient, work smarter, not harder and challenge our technologists to drive initiative and opportunities to present to the business.

ITSM Watch - 6 Success Factor for ITSM Governance Structures

More with Less

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