23
the next couple of years and what do we as ITSM professinals need to do to address these challenges/opportunities?
Service management’s greatest challenge is lack of visibility and understanding from the marketplace. The industry must get better at
telling the stories of who benefits from the work we do and how it happens. Customer Experience is becoming a widely-recognised field with specialisations including Customer Success, User Experience, and the more familiar Customer Service and Support. As ITSM professionals, we should be leveraging that growing awareness and connecting the dots for people on how service management facilitates the customer experience.
When I say “how”, I mean from the customer’s perspective, not the technical details. It doesn’t matter whether the customer got the outcome from the application of AI, Blockchain, a CMDB, or whatever. What matters is that they have more confidence, more revenue, more time…that enables them to get on with whatever they wanted to do.
What's the most valuable piece of advice you have been given in your professional career?
Curiosity is a muscle that will wither if it goes unused. Curiosity about people leads to understanding their problems more clearly so you can solve them better. Curiosity about processes and products leads to creativity in the ways you go about things. Be curious and stay open to new and renewed ways of getting things done.
What advice would you give young people who have chosen a career in technology?
Be strategic about your career path. Articulate your ambitious goal and check in with yourself regularly. Ask yourself whether each decision you make contributes to that, in some way. Look for opportunities to tell the stories of how what you do each day contributes to the bigger goal—both yours and that of your team or organisation.
What do you like to do when you are not working?
When I’m not consulting, I’m usually catching up with friends at one of the bars on Lygon St, at an art class, kickboxing or reviewing potential startup investments.
What was the title and author of the last book you read?
I was reading two books at once and finished them at the same time: Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton, and Dishonesty is the Second-Best Policy by David Mitchell
One word that could describe your experience of itSMF Australia?
Expansive
Have you ever been to an itSMF Conference, if so what was your Conference experience like and do you have a lasting memory?
I’ve been to every Conference since 2011. I still think Perth was the best—massive bowls of oysters. How can you go wrong?! That was also the year I won White Paper of the Year. And then I think Brisbane in 2016. It was my first time as Conference Director and I closed that event satisfied the program had been well-received.