itSMFI 2016 Forum Focus - September Forum Focus ITSMFI Sept 2016 | Page 20

When I started my service management career, ITIL version 2 was king and we
didn’t really question ‘how’ we did service management. The companies I was
working at were busy trying to get change management in place, improve their
service desk and decide how much configuration management they really
needed.
together – the clue is in the name. In traditional IT organisations, there is a
clearly defined ‘build’ phase where developers create the service, and then
a ‘run’ phase where operations take over. The quality of the handover and
the time constraints applied to the dev team will dictate the quality of the
live service.
The arrival of ITIL version 3 felt at the time like a huge disruption. Service Adopting a more agile mindset, we can move beyond build
management people started to look outside of operations, and to understand and run. Applications go live, but then they are worked on and improved
how true service management governs the entire service lifecycle.
incrementally. Dev are more involved with supporting what they’ve built,
and ops play a key role in providing feedback to the dev teams about what
Fast-forward a few years, and ITIL version 3 looks like a minor event compared
can be improved.
to the current state of ITSM. DevOps, Agile, Lean, SIAM, IT4IT – there are so
many new things bursting on to the scene. As service management Hack your processes
professionals, what are we to do?
Developers run hackathons, getting groups of people together to build
Keep learning
working products that can be used to get feedback and prove a concept.
ITSM can apply the same thinking to processes. Got a change management
Anyone who thinks they know everything there is to know about ITSM is very
process that isn’t really working anymore? Get all the stakeholders
mistaken. The first step I would recommend for any ITSM professional is to start
together in a room, and start to hack. Look for small improvements, test
learning. There are whole communities out there blogging and meeting up to
concepts and build relationships – you will be amazed at the results.
look at how IT needs to change – get involved!
The future is now
I’ve been attending the Leeds DevOps and Sheffield DevOps in the UK. The
sense of community and passion is just as strong as it is in the ITSM world and This is one of the most exciting times to be working service management
I’ve picked up some fantastic ideas learning from the presenters and attendees. and as practitioners we have a chance to try new things and deliver value.
Let’s go!
As with any IT method, framework or standard, the key is to pick the bits that
work for you. Some companies are repeating past mistakes by going ‘full About the author
DevOps’ with new job titles all round and a complete re-organisation. Think
Claire Agutter is the lead tutor of ITSM Zone, an
instead about how you can add some value to your existing structure and
organisation that specialises in best practice
where you can make rapid improvements.
e-learning. Courses include ITIL, PRINCE2, BRM
Professional, Certified Agile Service Manager and the
Go beyond ‘build’ and ‘run’
DevOps Foundation.
One of the key ideas behind DevOps is getting dev and ops to work more closely
20 itSMFI Forum Focus—September 2016