Service Management basics

Happy New Year

Somehow I thought I would be able to write my blogs ahead, and then release them fortnightly (or at least two-a-month). Reality has taken over and I now find myself in January without any pre-prepared blogs. So, with this in mind and as we’re starting a new year, I thought perhaps I should go back to the basics.

As an ITIL zealot, I of course am strongly inclined to see ITIL as the one true way of ‘implementing’ service management. But I am certainly not that myopic not to recognise that there are some excellent ‘other’ frameworks around which offer complimentary and sometimes even superior advice (I am particular enarmoured with COBIT5 and may devote a future blog to that).

But more than any specific methodology I find that recently I am spending more time (in ITIL training etc.) explaining to people the basic concept of Service Management (and then how ITIL fits in). So, the basic concept of service management is the management of services (yes, sometimes things are THAT simple). A service, in turn, is the value we deliver to the business, which is not related to any specific technology used (but rather the utility and warranty, which are a great set of concepts, although ITIL could have used them better and more consistent).

So, my first and possibly most basic teaching is that we (i.e. all ‘IT-people’) need to focus on our deliverable\value rather than our delivery\technology. This is most evident in a process like Incident Management that deals with break-fix. ITIL provides a great objective-statement for this process which is ‘to restore normal service as quickly as possible, and minimise impact on the business’.

I always highlight three key parts in this statement, the first being ‘restore’. Incident Management is not about fixing, improving or anything permanent\long-term, but merely about restoring the normal\working situation, sometimes using workarounds (the equivalent of taking an aspirin …). The second highlighted part is ‘as quickly as possible’, which then leads to the priority-setting (impact and urgency), which is driven by the customer, business or at least the service targets of the SLA.

The last part of the Incident Management objective that is of importance is ‘minimising impact to the business’, which brings us back to the core of service management: delivering value. If a user can’t email, then it is important of us to restore this service (and for future purpose perhaps do a root cause analysis). But of immediate importance is the business process which was trying to communicate (the value), something that perhaps can be achieved otherwise (print & fax, phone, …). A good service desk agent will think with the user, about the business and not restrict themselves to the service levels in place and/or the technology used.

Once you grasp that the basic meaning of a service is the value delivered, then the next\second basic concept is that of the ‘management’ part: the value has to be delivered repeatable & guaranteed. This is where ITIL (or your favourite methodology) plays its part as it provides the structure that allows providers to deliver services repeatable, manageable & guaranteed. 

In ITIL this is done through the processes which provide ‘structured activities’. This is why a good methodology is also known as ‘commons sense, written down’ as those activities are common sense and most people would do them anyway, most of the time (I sometimes joke that there are yet undiscovered tribes in the amazon who are using Incident Management). The structure of a process makes sure that everyone does the activities, all of the time and thus establishes repeatability. By documenting a process (procedure manuals, work instructions etc.) and measuring activities (and outcomes) we make the delivery manageable, repeatable & guaranteed.

But … remember that it was not about the delivery, and thus not about the process, but rather the outcome\value\service that is being delivered. Processes\ITIL are merely a means to an end (even though sometimes zealots like myself get lost in the intricacies of the means, thus forgetting the end)!

Focusing too much on process is the equivalent of declaring the operation a success, even though the patient has died! (but look at the stitching ... textbook).

So, these are the basics of Service Management: it is about delivering value in a repeatable & guaranteed way. Ultimately (or ideally) a service is a fixed-price, blackbox ‘thing’: as a user\customer I don’t care how it happens, as long as I get the value, every time I need it!

Best wishes for 2013.

the ITIL Zealot
January 2013

THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD TO ITSM HEAVEN

Hi, I am the ITIL Zealot, or at least that is the nom-de-plume I go by for this blog.

As this is my first blog, a brief introduction: I am have been working in the IT industry for over 20 years. I started (like many of us) in desktop support, as opposed to development, and have fulfilled roles on the Service Desk and in 2^nd line (Windows) support. My badge of honour is my Windows 3.11 Expert certificate (which is well-and-truly a retired service by now).

As part of my meteoric career path I became involved with projects, around either desktop or messaging (Exchange 4.5 for the archaeologists under you) before making the step to more or less fulltime ITIL specialist (can’t really use the word ‘expert’ as that qualification wasn’t available in those days of the late 90's). As the latter I’ve done anything from process assessment, design, management and improvement (mostly around Operations and Transition) but lately I’ve been almost exclusively doing training (at all levels). What is that saying again “Those who can’t …”?

About a year ago I started tweeting on the subject of ITIL and Service Management and now I’ve decided it is time to start a blog. Not that I think I have revolutionary ideas or the answer to all the questions; my late joining of both twitter & blogging serves as a testament to that. But in my 20 years’ experience I do think I have obtained some unique insights & ideas and if nothing else some funny anecdotes and analogies which are perhaps worth sharing. You’ll be the judge of this, so please let me know (yes, I’ll take requests!).

PS: I am not an native English speaker, so please forgive any typos and\or other mistakes.

So my name of zealot indicates that I believe ITIL is the one, true way towards Service Management heaven. Or perhaps, much like religion, I understand that there are many ways which lead to this goal, but ITIL is my chosen path (I may get around to discussing some of the other frameworks, which I not so much denounce as believe have their own specific benefits).

This reminds me (and you’re correct, this is going to be the first anecdote\analogy) of my religion teacher in high school who drew two paths on the blackboard. One was a straight, wide freeway (or perhaps the highway to hell) and the other a small, winding path to heaven; and in between were connecting cross-roads. As the teacher explained, many people take the ‘easy’ route of the wide freeway (to hell), but all was not lost as at certain points (in their lives) they could still cross to the winding road to heaven. Perhaps not the easiest path, but worth it because of the destination (heaven). I guess conversely people can loose their goal and stray from the path of righteousness (the winding one) back onto the easy path.

I thought that if this was the case, I would take the fast, wide, easy freeway all the way until the very last crossroad, to then quickly get across and complete the last little bit of the winding road to heaven. Apparently this was not allowed. Perhaps this symbolises the attitude of many people to service management; they’re looking for the easy road whereas the only the way to service management nirvana is long, complicated and sometimes painful.

ITIL (and me to a lesser degree) are here to guide you on this path. I hope you’ll enjoy these blogs and get some use out of it (or even just a smile).

the ITIL Zealot
May 2012