In the early days of DevOps, there was a lot of debate about the ongoing relevancy of ITIL and IT service management (ITSM) in a faster-paced agile and DevOps world. Thankfully, that debate is coming to an end. ITSM processes are still essential, but, like all aspects of IT, they too must transform. Recent updates to ITIL  (ITIL 4), as well as increased interest in site reliability engineering (SRE), are providing new insights into how to manage services in a digital world. Here's a look at ITIL 4 and SRE and how each underpins the "Three Ways of DevOps," as defined in The Phoenix Project, by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford.‎ What is ITIL 4?  ITIL 4 is the next evolution of the well-known service management framework from Axelos. It introduces a new Service Value System (SVS) that's supported by the guiding principles from the ITIL Practitioner Guidance publication. The framework eases into its alignment with DevOps and agile through a bi-mo

There are some misconceptions about ITIL ® 4 and its use of the term ‘practice’ vs. ‘process’ as a component of its recently introduced service value system. One misconception is that processes aren’t important anymore. Another is that organizations think they must completely redesign their tools in order to accommodate this change. Neither is true. Let’s begin by taking a look at how ITIL 4 defines these terms. Process: a set of interrelated or interacting activities that transform inputs into outputs [to accomplish an objective]. Processes define the sequence of actions and their dependencies. Practice: a set of organizational resources designed for performing work or accomplishing an objective. Practices include resources based on the four dimensions of service management which include: organizations and people, information and technology, partners and suppliers, and value streams and – wait for it – processes.   Both processes and practices focus on achievin

Testing starts with the first line of code!   It is NOT a downstream activity. DevOps testing has a critical role to play in a Continuous Delivery Pipeline. Without integrated testing DevOps simply will not work!   With the advent of DevOps and the movement to breakdown silos between developers, QA, security, and operations, it becomes critically important that all members of an IT team - regardless of what tools they use, or role they play - understand the essentials of testing. Every member of your development team should also integrate to ensure Compliance and Audit outcomes!   It is a new world.   In this new world, we can leverage from existing but must be open to walking through new doors of opportunity. Understanding traditional test strategies is helpful but when and where, and most importantly how we proceed with our test strategy must shift.   Knowing how to code is not enough, Quality Assurance in and of itself is not enough.   We cannot afford to have our products

What is an ITIL Expert?  An evangelist?  A champion?  A coach? D.    All of the Above .  Holding the ITIL Expert designation (or being an expert in ITIL) means that an individual has a broad and balanced understanding of ITIL concepts and is able to effectively apply and integrate that knowledge to the benefit of an organization. So, what happens when ITIL evolves? ITIL 4 has been introduced and now it’s time for ITIL Experts to evolve their knowledge as well. But that doesn’t mean simply expanding their knowledge of ITIL. ITIL 4 provides the guidance organizations need to address changing service management challenges and to utilize the potential of modern technology. This includes integrating Agile, Lean and DevOps concepts and understanding how these concepts influence new ways of thinking and working. So how do we bring these concepts together? Agile Service Management describes how to adapt Agile and Scrum values and practices to ITSM process design and improve

Testing starts with the first line of code!   It is NOT a downstream activity. DevOps testing has a critical role to play in a Continuous Delivery Pipeline. Without integrated testing, DevOps simply will not work!   With the advent of DevOps and the movement to break down  silos between developers, QA, security, and operations, it becomes critically important that all members of an IT team - regardless of what tools they use, or what role they play - understand the essentials of testing. Every member of your development team should also integrate to ensure Compliance and Audit outcomes!   It is a new world.   In this new world, we can leverage from existing but must be open to walking through new doors of opportunity. Understanding traditional test strategies is helpful but when and where, and most importantly how we proceed with our test strategy must shift.   Knowing how to code is not enough, Quality Assurance in and of itself is not enough.   We cannot afford to have our

Continuous Delivery Architects are engaged in the design, implementation, and management of DevOps deployment pipelines. This infers the inclusion of all tools and tech to support Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, Continuous Testing, and even Continuous Deployment.  Subjective viewpoints and misunderstandings of what is involved and how to orchestrate a pipeline can lead an entire organization in the wrong direction. Every “Continuous Delivery Architect” should consider formal education and certification to ensure that they do not proceed in error. I see in practice that the emphasis is on the tooling and although that is a key element, even more critical is the process flow, the APIs, and the inclusion of practices to ensure things like security, compliance, and resilience are built into the orchestrated automated pipeline. Let us not forget the importance of CULTURE and the role that plays. There are three primary ingredients for continuous delivery: Au