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The Agile Service Manager


A core principle of popular Agile methodologies is to limit “Work in Progress”. Self-organizing Scrum teams, will only take on a small piece of work from the overall backlog that can be completed within a timeboxed period, normally between 2 and 4 weeks. By limiting their focus and attention to what is most important (priorities are set and agreed to) you enable the team to complete the agreed to work and by limiting work in progress we train teams to finish work, rather than begin added work. With this focus to customer requirements, a higher level of quality and more satisfied customers is the result.  Additionally, because the work is done in smaller increments, there is much less risk to our environment.

In order for our ITSM teams to move from the methodologies currently being used to Agile methodologies such as Scrum and Kanban to name a couple, we must have an advocate for our teams to be able to engage in this new way of developing and maturing our ITSM/ITIL processes. This is where the role of the Certified Agile Service Manager (CASM) comes in.  A counterpart to developments ScrumMaster, and like the ScrumMaster, the Agile Service Manager is a facilitator, coach, protector and servant-leader to the process owners’, teams and the organization.

The way in which the CASM supports this movement is to:
  • Help the process owners bridge the guidance between Agile and ITSM.
  • Support the process owners’ effort to build and maintain a process backlog on their various processes.
  • Work with process owners’ to ensure that ITSM processes reflect Agile values and principles.
  • Facilitating scrum events.

Additionally, the CASM serves the teams by:
  • Coaching teams to be self-organizing and cross functional.
  • Enhancing their skills at writing effective process related user stories.
  • Supporting the teams in environments where Agile and Scrum is not yet fully endorsed or understood.


Finally the CASM serves the organization by:
  • Coaching the organization in Agile Service Management.
  • Helping stakeholders understand and apply Agile Service Management practices.
  • Increasing the productivity of the Scrum teams.
  • Working with other ScrumMasters and Agile Service Managers to improve the overall agility of the organization.
To gain knowledge and certification in “Certified Agile Service Manager”


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