Category: ITSM

Apple has a reputation for the right products at the right time. What can IT learn from Apple about creating raving fans by reducing Time to Value? Christopher Meyer did a great piece on Apple’s Most Obvious Secret: Reducing Time to Value. Apple has built a corporate culture around customer value. It’s not how quickly …

Your boss says he wants you to implement IT Change Management. Google it (which is probably why you’re reading this now) and you get countless pages of mind numbing details. What do I do? Where do I even start? Where to Start with IT Change Management First of all, don’t panic. You’re in the right …

IT Change Management is usually thought of as a back office function that minimizes the chances of screwing things up while making changes. When done right, it does a lot more. Read how IT Change Management improves Incident Management. Added Value of Change Management In How to Implement Basic IT Change Management I talked about …

If you’re  one of the countless ITSM practitioners who  work daily in organizations large and small, in countries around the world, listen up. You know how hard, lonely, and thankless  it can be. You have friends out there. I listened to Mark Kawasaki’s presentation at this week’s Tomorrow’s Future Today 2013 conference. The guy shows …

With business moving at the speed of light, IT must match pace with implementing IT Changes. What can IT Change Management learn about going fast from the world of auto racing? On Going Fast… Race cars are designed to go fast, right? Every ounce of a race car is carefully engineered for maximum performance. Driver …

The Change Advisory Board (CAB) is arguably  the most widely known ITSM activity. It’s also widely misunderstood. Here’s the quick lowdown on CAB. What is CAB? CAB – known formally as the Change Advisory Board, is a group of people who are tasked with evaluating changes to the IT environment. It can be as simple …

 Here are my top 5 lessons learned implementing IT Change Management that will save you endless heartache. Having recently implemented a Basic IT Change Management Process, I’m sometimes asked about lessons learned implementing IT Change Management. – What would I do differently. Lots. Here’s the top 5, in no particular order:  1. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate …

As a technology powerhouse, Intel is in the perfect position to re-engineer their IT processes. Why then did they chose to adopt an ITSM framework? Intel CIO Kim Stevenson recently said that Business Executives need to have Higher Expectations of IT.  She also credits their Service Management  program with “…lean out our process, and minimize …

Implementing Basic IT Change Management is a great place to start, but eventually you’ll need a more business-value focused process. In this article I’ll tell you how to  take the next step in maturing your Change Management program. The Basic IT Change Management Process I described earlier helps get control of what’s happening in your …

You know selecting the right trainer is important, but how do you sort through the hype and get the best fit? Here’s 7 sure fire ways to pick a Great Trainer! The training Market While not all trainers are equal, the courses they teach pretty much are. All accredited courses are required to meet certain …

Does lack of clear Ownership leave your organization spending a lot of time trying to determine  who makes decisions? Do they suffer from decision deja vu, again and again?  Ownership is prominent in the Service Management frameworks. I’ll tell you why. Ownership In  IT Value is Created  Horizontally,  I talked about horizontal vs vertical mindset …

I’d rather drop a bowling ball on my tongue than endure another marathon meeting about the target maturity level of an ITSM process! If you find yourself muttering colorful metaphors when you’d rather be doing ITSM process work, this article is for you. Analysis Paralysis I hear a lot of discussion when it comes to …

Implementing IT Change Management doesn’t need to be as overwhelming as  it may it seem at first glance.  In this article, I’ll show how to begin a basic IT Change Management program, especially for  organizations with little or no other formal processes in place Where to Begin 1. Start small and keep it simple Identify …

Is there really anything wrong with “un-managed” changes? Or is Change Management a contrived problem trumped up by ITIL zealots to sell training and consulting? My daughter is playing Marian the Librarian in her high school’s production of The Music Man. “Professor” Harold Hill comes to River City to scam the locals into buying instruments …

When your Service Management program faces opposition, credibility makes all the difference between success and failure. So, here you have it; The blunt truth your mother didn’t tell  you about success in the world of IT Service Management: SFU Yep – Shut the Freak Up. Best advice I ever got. Yeah, I know you’re suppose …

ITIL is designed to maximize business value, so why is it so often viewed as a process-improvement effort? IT Service Management can be polarizing, almost a religious experience –  it’s many things to many people; understood by few, misunderstood by most, and ultimately, is just kind of annoying to everyone else. I remember going to …