stock exchange entry. You need to find a way to comply with these rules. We,
together with the internal audit team and the process tool team, are here to help you.’
That message had a completely different effect. The teams listened carefully to the requirements and asked questions to get clarifications. Examples of questions that were raised include:
- Can we set up categories of changes and have different approval flows for them?
- Is it enough to document the reason for the change in the change ticket?
- How can we get approval if a key role is vacant or absent?
- If a change has been approved at an earlier step in the process, does the technical update need approval before being put into production?
It was clear that each team had an underlying objective in mind, to comply with the controls while maintaining minimum impact on flow and speed.
The outcome was that each team had its own way to successfully fulfil its requirements, including its own process flows, configuration of the process tool, and way of interacting with key stakeholders. This could have increased some costs and caused some challenges, especially for the auditors, but the drawbacks were overshadowed by the benefits. The flow of work increased, as each team could create a process that
fit its own requirements. This, in combination with the benefits of each team taking full responsibility for
complying with the controls, and not having the option of blaming a faulty
process, created far more value
to the organization in the long run.
Summary
The entry on the American stock exchange was successful and the improvement work continues at Spotify.
Staff interest in ITIL has increased since the assignment, as the value of the framework has become clear, and recently, Olingo delivered formal ITIL training at Spotify. Although the adoption of ITIL is still ongoing at Spotify, the organization is making great steps towards improving its processes, and already understands and adheres to the ITIL principles better than most companies. They have realized that processes should not be created and obeyed just for the sake of it. The ITIL framework is based on best practice and
common sense and Spotify has plenty of that. The processes are there to support the organization in achieving its goals and, as long as the process fulfils its objectives and constraints, there are no rules for its design.
Passionate about striking the right balance between order and chaos,
Ola Källgården bends and twists frameworks, models and philosophies into something that is truly useful. Ola has experience from a range of different roles within the IT world,
including developer, business analyst, project manager, organizational
change manager and management consultant. Apart from guiding and coaching clients Ola is also a public speaker as well as an acclaimed and accredited ITIL and DevOps trainer.
About the
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