Changing ITSM Seasons

As we approach the fall and winter in the northern hemisphere, the change of seasons makes me think of the whole idea of renewal. This leads me to think about the place of renewal in ITSM—Continual Service Improvement. To make improvement work really well it must be a continuous activity. At a minimum, we should take some time to recognize that ITSM has seasons just like the physical world. Each year as we strive to deliver value to our customers, users and business partners we should think about those seasons. The seasons of the year offer up an opportunity to renew our efforts in ITSM and to bring new life out of the longer-term activities and efforts within our organizations. Just like the need to change a battery in a smoke detector once per year, the “battery” of your ITSM work might need replacement, recharging or renewal.

What does renewal of an ITSM implementation or effort look like? Here is a short list of the activities and steps you might take to help your own “renewal”:

Review your strategy: Is it still valid? Have conditions changed since you created the strategy? Are tactics and operations still in line with the original strategy? Will a change in strategy cause a change in tactics or operations?
Refresh your service catalog: Are there any services that need retirement? Is the information still valid? Does the information represent the current offerings? Does the catalog still “market” your services effectively?
Shuffle your CAB membership: Is it time to bring new “blood” or “fresh eyes” to the Change Advisory Board? Does the meeting format still suffice? Are there collaborative technologies now available that could help the CAB?
Refresh your incident and problem models: Are the current catalog of models or knowledge articles still up to date? Have technology updates made the models obsolete? Are there models still needed that have not been written?
Review your measurements and metrics: Are the metrics still bringing a fresh view of your strategic, tactical and operation world? Are the metrics “stale”? Has work fallen into a rut because of “stale” metrics?

These are just a short list of thought starter questions you should ask yourself as you change seasons or as you go into year’s end. Time your renewal with the change of the physical world as a reminder each year that as nature refreshes so should your organization!

Comments

Anonymous said…

Awesome reminder to review what you have, do you need it, is it effective, does it meet your company's goals? It also builds the foundation for improved IT Governance, Risk and Compliance.
Thanks,Professor Wise.

November 25, 2013 at 9:40 AM

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