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Do LESS with LESS! Really??

Since the start of the millennium we have all heard that we must do “More with Less”. I recently read an article where the idea of “Less for Less” was looked at from the perspective of if our resources are cut then we will have to cut programs, products, and services also.   Perhaps we should look at how to cut back on to whom and what we produce in order to stay within our means. Government sequestration may have triggered this way of thinking for some service providers. This is a catchy title but is this really the case?   Is there a different perspective on “Less for Less”? Think back a few years when a downturn in the economy negatively impacted the workforce.   Families got creative.   The new trend became staycation instead of vacation.    A staycation meant less travel arrangements for less time in planning, less time on the road or in airports and therefore less missed connections, less cost for the family resulting in less stress and less debt!   What about VALUE!   W

Four Service Characteristics

Recently I came across several articles by researchers and experts that laid out definitions and characteristics of services. ITIL provides us with a definition that can help drive the creation of value-laden services: A means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs and risks. An area that ITIL is not so clear is in terms of service characteristics. Several researchers and experts put forth that services have four basic characteristics (IHIP): ·          Intangibility—Services are the results of actions not things. They have no physical presence and represent a logical set of elements. One way to think of service is “work done for others.” ·          Heterogeneity—Also known as “variability”; services are unique items because of the mechanisms used to deliver services-that is people. Because the people element adds variability, the service is variable. This holds true especially for the v

Balance in Service Operation IV

Previously, I have delivered several articles on the challenges that IT organizations face in trying to balance opposing goals and objectives especially in light of the fact that in every organization, the one constant is change.   The focus of those pieces described the tension between the perspective that IT is a set of technology components (Internal IT view) and that IT is a set of services (External business view).    They also spoke to the fact that, no matter how well the functionality of an IT service meets stake holder’s needs, it will be of little value if the IT infrastructure is unstable causing instances of unavailability and inconsistency in performance levels .   Of course we (IT/Service provider) must be able to do all of this at the same time as providing services that deliver acceptable levels of quality while efficiently utilizing the organizations resources. So to reiterate, this struggle can be broken down into four general imbalances so that an IT organizatio

Process Centric Thinking

What do we mean when we say “process-centric” thinking? What we mean is that individuals, groups or teams and even an entire organization sees their work and activities being driven by or related to process first, rather than person, technology or information first. Remember that a process is a structured set of activities that take inputs and convert them to outputs that help to satisfy business, customer or user outcomes. When we look to accomplish work or produce a good or service we are going to do that in a structured way (a process). To paraphrase Dr. W. Edwards Deming, “…if you cannot describe your work or what you do as a process, you do not know what you do.” A “process-centric” approach should not imply that you should forget completely about people, technology or information. These are important factors in completing the production of goods and services. It is that these other factors make the process possible. In turn, a process relies on these elements to work most

ITSM and the Consummate Gardener

The Consummate Gardener   There are times in IT Service Management that seem to be like dry cold spells.   Times when the funding is dry, the resources are lean and to all but the consummate gardener might appear to be nonproductive in the way of moving forward.   The consummate gardener will find something to put on the schedule in the bitter cold of January, something like garden planning, tool maintenance, or alphabetizing the seed packets. Perhaps browsing seed catalogs and more to ensure they are prepared for the next season. Why?   They have a vision!   The crop, the wonderful fruit of their labor realized.   Back to the Basics Like the gardener there are areas of ITSM Best Practice that a service provider can continually be preparing for and improving.   When times are lean and dry as well as when they are not.   With all the terms, the technology, the latest and greatest buzz lets pause and step back; back to the basics.   For the gardener that is the seed , the

#SMFlashbook – Best Tip(s) for Building a Service Catalog

This blog is being posted today as part of a larger community effort to publish common topic blogs on the same day.   I encourage you to review the other blogs on this subject by searching the hashtag #SMFlashbook. I was simultaneously confused and disappointed by the recent itSMF/Forrester survey results that indicated a large number of organizations had not built a Service Catalog due to lack of funding.     I am also always confused when organizations move forward with their Service Management initiatives without first defining their services.   So I challenge you with a question:   How can you manage services if you do not have a clear understanding of the services that you provide?   Here are some very simple and virtually free tips for creating an initial and meaningful Service Catalog: Step away from your tool.     The first steps can be captured on paper, whiteboards or in documents.   The tool part will come later. Gather stakeholders and collectively define an

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”