The publication of ITIL 2011 has brought several new or revamped processes to light. One of those is the Strategy Management for IT Services process. This Strategy process is not actually new. It represents the formalization of best practice guidance for managing strategies contained in earlier editions of the ITIL publications. The purpose of this newly minted process is to use a company’s perspective, position, plans and patterns to ensure better management, governance and control of the IT services an organization provides to support the business outcomes. The basic principles of the Strategy Management process include helping to identify the overall business strategy and then tie an underpinning IT strategy (including an IT service strategy) or manufacturing strategy to the business outcomes through integration and alignment activities. Once an IT strategy emerges in relation to the business strategy, the organization can then decompose the IT strategy into IT tactics and

The other day someone asked me if a Problem Record should be opened for all Major Incidents. Not necessarily – the goal of a Major Incident is still to restore service when a major event occurs that has significant impact on the business. Incident Management is not necessarily looking for a permanent solution but for some level of regained productivity. If viable and necessary, raising a Problem Record will engage the necessary resources to find the root cause (if not already known) and find a permanent solution to remove the error (if one is available). However, sometimes the root cause of a Major Incident is immediately known and a permanent solution not viable at the time. Here is a practical example – we have hurricanes in Florida that can cause massive power outages. We know the root cause and the permanent solution is to repair the power lines. This will likely take some time. Do we need a Problem Record to capture that information? Maybe, if there is a need to document th

When it comes to Problem Management two things should come to mind: Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and finding a permanent resolution. How often have you thought about what it takes to conduct these aspects of Problem Management? An important underlying aspect of conducting a Root Cause Analysis and finding the permanent resolution are the reasoning approaches used. Three types of basic reasoning approaches are: Inductive: Reasoning from specific examples to general rules Deductive: Reasoning from general rules to specific examples Abductive: Reasoning to the most likely answer Each has its own uses and can be applied to problem solving and Problem Management at different times and for different reasons. However, when performing the Problem Management process we should be open to using all three reasoning approaches. They all complement each other with Inductive and Deductive reasoning forming two ends of a spectrum while Abductive thought looks for the balance between the other two a

In a recent conversation I was asked about the difference between an Incident and a Problem. This is one of the most often confused points in all of IT Service Management and ITIL. Part of the confusion comes from the fact that both words are used (at least in the English language) to express similar ideas. Each reference some kind of issue occurring that potentially could lead to human action. However, in ITIL words are more clearly defined and have particular contexts for usage. Incident: Any unplanned event that causes, or may cause, a disruption or interruption to service delivery or quality Problem: The cause of one or more incidents, events, alerts or situations While Incidents have to do with disruption of delivery or quality, problems have to do with causes. From these distinct definitions we can see that not every incident would result in a problem, and not every problem even needs to be related to an incident. Keep in mind that “Incidents never grow up to be Problems.” Th

I was recently asked by one of my followers if I might have an example of a Service Design Package (SDP).  When seeking to implement ITSM and ITIL, we often seek to find examples and models we can use to give us more guidance. This is no less true of the SDP.  Unfortunately when we try to seek out specific examples of a SDP it can often be difficult, if not near impossible. So why is it hard to find actual examples of a SDP? It goes to the very nature of the guidance of what we call best practices. ITIL is not prescriptive as to what should go into a SDP or what one might look like. It provides best practice guidance on the types of items contained, but not the exact look and feel of the content. Therefore each SDP will be unique to the organization that creates it. The organization, type of content, what the content says, and how it is managed are all decisions made by each organization to meet the needs of their customers and users. Just like a Service Catalog or a set of Service L

Not too long ago we discussed John Kotter’s Eight Steps towards Leading Organizational Change.   The sixth step outlined the necessity of establishing Quick Wins.   As IT Service Management professionals we need to show upper management service improvements within a short time frame.   We also need to get our IT staff on board with the ITIL program and what better way than showing benefits quickly.   I have outlined 10 quick wins, some are for those who are just starting their service improvement journey, and some are for those at a higher maturity level. To help illustrate this, we are going to try something new.  The ITSM Professor would like to solicit your opinions and success stories on Quick Wins and IT Service Management improvements.     We may publish your stories in upcoming blogs on topics such as Recording every Incident and Service Request Defining  models for your frequently occurring Incidents Starting to create a Standard Change library Producing trending re

By definition, ITIL is a set of best practices (refer to glossary and section 1.2.3 of any of the books)  It is also considered a "source" of good practice.   While this may be confusing, it is important to understand the distinction. There are many sources of good practice but not all of those sources are  validated as "best" practice.   While the term is loosely used, best practices should be repeatedly proven to demonstrate tangible value in actual organizations.  In fact, today's documented best practice could be tomorrow's good or common practice.  That's how service management evolves, improves and becomes institutionalized. Building a service management program can also involve other sources of good practice (i.e., other frameworks, standards, and proprietary knowledge). ITIL makes it clear that it's best-practice guidelines  are not intended to be prescriptive.  Each organization is unique and must 'adapt and adopt' the gui