"You may have a bigger and better toolbox in ITIL® v3, but your problems remain the same."

At this point in the life of the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), there is no shortage of articles explaining what ITIL is or documenting the gap between it and its predecessors. At a very high level, the underlying principles and processes have not substantially changed, but instead have been updated, clarified and added to. What I would like to accomplish with this article is to look at the idea of how we transition and move our Service Management efforts in the most effective manner in light of changing versions of ITIL. The traditional approach would be to take a new or changed version of ITIL and determine how I get my organization up to date. A second and complementary approach is to take a step back and look at what ITIL, regardless of version, was meant to be used for; IT Service Management. If we can successfully expand the focused application of ITIL from the materials themselves back to the subject of Service Management like it was intended, transitioning between versions no longer becomes the issue. A specific version or iteration will no longer distract our focus and limit the value we can create from this dynamic framework.

The traditional approach for how to transition to a new version of ITIL is based on where you are today. The simple answer, regardless of whether you (A) originally started with or are currently using an ‘old’ version of ITIL, (B) have begun to leverage guidance in v3 or (C) are waiting for the next version, is to “keep doing what you’re doing”. Any new release, whether Version 2, Version 3, or Version X, will be an incremental refresh and continuance of the core material already in circulation. Be careful not to be tricked into forcing your organization into a next step decision based entirely on the version of ITIL guidance. Improving your IT organization’s ability to deliver the right services at the right time for the right cost to your customers is much more important than wasting cycles on determining what to do with a new release.

Those of you that started under v2 and are getting value from these efforts should keep your focus there and let them run their course. Evaluate transitioning to the newest version only when you:

• Find a logical  stopping place in your Continual Service Improvement efforts under v2
• Have identified an improvement to your Service environment that can leverage a piece of the newer versions, and
• Are in a position to retrain your people in the new lingo.

In many respects, the more things change, the more they stay the same. This is a net positive when it comes to ITIL. In the process it has cemented itself in the global IT environment as the defacto standard for IT Service Management. While the contents, chapters, books, and structure have ‘changed’ from version to version, the core driving force for ITIL has stayed consistent. Unfortunately, in practical application the adoption and use of ITIL has (intentionally or unintentionally) ended up being focused more on the materials than IT Service Management. As a result, our organizations are still facing key Service based problems and issues on a day to day basis that ITIL was meant to help us address.

ITIL, through its changes and additions, is bigger and better and provides us a more complete tool set to work with. The hammer and nails were effective when we were doing repairs and getting the initial sense of carpentry, but now we need power tools to build a house. ITIL is evolutionary and its continued growth is necessary to help us face our own ever growing and changing environments.

However, we do need to be careful. ITIL is itself like the ITSM tools that support it. Does the "tool" solve our users’ Incidents and their underlying Problems? No!?  Does it help us deliver and manage critical business applications more efficiently and effectively? You bet!  Will it help us to identify and analyze weak points and inadequacies? You bet! ITIL does not do all this work for us, but if used appropriately, it will equip us to more effectively deliver, manage, and improve upon what our customers rely on us to provide. Without the carefully directed, prioritized and well thought out use of our finite resources, it doesn’t matter how great the tools are, including ITIL.

After 20 years of ITIL Service Management, the underlying approach is substantially the same. What needs to change is the shift of our focus away from the materials and its dynamic new ‘lifecycle’ structure and back to Service Management. A recent column in a blog by Adian Lawes (ITP Report, January 21, 2010; http://www.itpreport.com) very succinctly crystallizes the stated approach to ITSM that we have somehow substantially missed and provides some sage advice for how we must ensure this understanding is fresh in our minds as we approach ITIL, regardless of the version!

“Recently, I have seen a large number of questions submitted to forums as well as articles/blogs querying ITIL’s credentials and usefulness, debating the versions, seeking definitions of terms, or looking for ‘the solution’ to a particular issue.

“My overwhelming feeling is one of despair. How can so many people, even those who have attended accredited training courses and passed a test, so fundamentally fail to understand what ITIL is – and more importantly isn’t. Even if it’s only Foundation they have attained, they should have grasped some basic sense of what it is.
    
“As I have written and spoken about many times, organizations need Service Management solutions; ITIL is ONE enabler to help them develop such a solution.

“All people involved with Service Management in any guise should repeat the following 3 times each night before going to bed:

• ITIL is not prescriptive
• You can’t implement ITIL
• You need to adopt and adapt
• ITIL is not the solution
• ITIL is only part of the picture
• Management involves choice and decision making
• The goal is services that the business wants delivered in the way they want at the price they’re prepared to pay

“After a sound night’s sleep, the mantra should be repeated each morning before work.”

1. Different parts of the IT organization have vastly different priorities
2. Our staff already has too much to do
3. The ITSM tools will drive our ITIL processes
4. The long term approach to ITIL is as a one-time project
5. Organizational change is too hard
6. Training key staff and expecting ITIL to be adopted organically
7. ITIL is not viewed as a strategic initiative spanning outside of just IT

How we approach ITIL v2, v3 or vX must focus on effectively dealing with the people inside and outside of IT and into the business operations, as much or more than the processes we build and the technology targets and outcomes we agree to enable. Our biggest focus, if we are to survive as a value adding entity to the business processes, must move from how many staff members are trained or how big and fast our technologies are to solutions for addressing the entire enterprise’s lack of common vision, linked goals and objectives and collective prioritization of resources. When the dust settles, we need to be in a position to meet these people and leadership inadequacies head on.  

Our plates are always, and will always be, overflowing. Demands on IT resources will not stop and as a result our mode of travel HAS to be “last minute” in nature and will lack the appropriate direction, focus, budget and resources. The problem is our ability to determine why this is happening and continues to happen so consistently. We must approach Service Management with ITIL and the myriad of other tried and true good practices in a way that puts us in position to effectively and efficiently ascertain what our next improvement steps have to be to better provide Services to our customers. Otherwise, without effective leadership, vision, bi-directional feedback, shared goal setting, and communicated commitment, the next implicit step will always be ‘the way we’ve always done it’ and a life dedicated to reactive firefighting.

About the Author:

Kory Smith, SmITh Consulting, assists companies in creating value within their IT organizations by helping to improve their ability to provide and manage IT services. Specifically, he provides his customers with IT Service Management (ITSM) consulting and training services.  His ITSM efforts focus on providing ITIL certification and awareness training and workshops, ITSM assessments and roadmap development, team-building simulations, ITSM tool requirements and selection, and helping medium- and large-sized organizations understand how to best leverage and implement IT Service Management best practices. The primary goal of all Kory’s projects are to equip his customers in building and implementing actionable ITSM improvement initiatives that foster the alignment between IT’s efforts and the goals and strategies of the business. Kory holds the ITIL Expert Certification and an MBA focused in Information Systems Management. kory@IT-SMith.com

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