Working in the field of IT Service Management there are numerous training courses, seminars, webinars and other methods of trying to describe the concept of ITSM. One of the most interesting ways to try and convey the broad goal of ITSM is through the use of simulations.
In the fall of 2006 I had the opportunity to attend the ITSMF conference in Charlotte, NC. During this conference I had the opportunity to meet the sales team from a company called G2G3. Their goal is to develop simulation training tools designed to demonstrate the complexity of operating an efficient technology organization. More importantly, through the use of ITIL based best practice, they apply the various ITIL roles and functions in a non-IT capacity. I had the opportunity this past week, to be the intro speaker for a training course that utilized the G2G3 simulation product using the theme of managing an F-1 Racing Team. I had never personally attended one of these coursed before and upon watching this one in action realized the true value in this type of training. Watching how Incident, Problem, Change and Configuration Management practices were applied to managing an F-1 team was quite fascinating. What was even more impressive was watching the various groups in the class work in independent functions and roles while the light-bulbs flickered on as the connection with our own IT functions began to become apparent. If you have the opportunity to attend simulation based training and the G2G3 folks are involved, I highly recommend it, you not only begin to see the big picture, but you can have quite a bit of fun in the process. That is, until the facilitator hits the "EVENT" key on his laptop which triggers the next incident.
