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Measuring IT Performance, the key to success
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If you ever have tried to quit smoking, drink less alcohol, lose weight, or change some major behaviour that you have habitually done for many years, you know how powerful habits are. Human habits are ' a tough nut to crack', but it is very rewarding to break through the barrier holding you back.
A powerful way to change is to learn 'Why We Do What We Do'. Usually, we do not change long held beliefs or behaviours unless we are somehow 'rocked' or 'shocked', and we are motivated to change only when seeing the benefits or rewards for our actions. Human behaviour is often compared to 'Donkey Behaviour' - we run from the whipping of our behind, or we run after the tasty carrot in front of us.
Motivational 'Whip - Change'
Animal rights organizations understand very clearly 'how the whip works'. They show us very graphic images or videos that show the negatives of eating meat, hunting or wearing fur. Their aim is to shock us into changing our way of thinking about animals - urging us to change.
Motivational 'Carrot - Change'
Marketers are very good at showing us carrots (ads). They try to change our habits and behaviours by bombarding us with messages of pleasure, happiness and satisfaction. Images of beautiful women and handsome men, trendy clothing, speedy cars, or the promise of amazing profits tell us how much better life will be if we bought these products.
Motivational 'Self - Change'
To make our own personal changes, we need to create a good understanding of the negatives (whips) and the positives (carrots), so we can anticipate what we will gain by changing. In other words: 'Pain & Pleasure' are powerful driving forces and we have to learn to use them properly by... choosing direction.
Author Lewis Carroll (Through the Looking Glass / Alice in Wonderland) wrote in 1872: ... One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. She asked him:
Alice: Which way should I go?
Cat: Well, where are you going?
Alice: Eh... I don't know where I'm going...
Cat: Then it doesn't matter which way you go...
Carrots and whips are for the 'Undecided'
All of us will continue to encounter lots of carrots and whips on our path, but if you haven't decided 'Which way you're going', you won't be able to make the right decisions.
Effective change management is simply 'KNOWING Where You're Going'. How will you cope with 'Change' in 2008?
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Every Christmas the boy would find it difficult to add something to his list, but everything he put on there, would always show up. He had learning toys, he had toys to tinker with, he had discovery toys, he had the newest and fastest computer, etc. etc. In a strange way it became a bit of a chaos. Too many toys he never played with (or had even lost in the pile of toys he had). Four weeks before Christmas he found a new magazine. The magazine was called the Intelligent Toy Inventory Library (or sometimes called ITIL). While he was looking through it he found the coolest thing: A Chaos Management System (a CMS). He so needed to have this, this was the best thing ever. It would categorize his toys, it would check his room for all the toys, it even had a link to a system that would warn him if any batteries were nearly dead. This is what he wanted. So this is what he put on his Christmas wish list.
Santa was reading through a whole bunch of lists until he came across the one from the boy. Santa had never heard about this CMS. It sounded scary. Luckily all his elves were very capable of making toys. A couple of days before Christmas Santa checked in with the elves how they were doing with developing the CMS. All the elves had build different components, unfortunately they had not been able to build proper interfaces between them. It looked like this was never going to work! Now what! What to do with this present from this boy?
On Christmas morning the boy ran downstairs to see where his presents were. He had only a few small packages. That did not look like a CMS would fit in there?! He opened his packages and nothing mentioned a CMS. The boy started to become upset. He did not get his new toy. But wait underneath the tree was a small envelope. The boy quickly opened the envelope and to his surprise there was a voucher there. Not for a CMS but for a service to clean up his toys, to organize them, to help them find them and to ensure that toys he did not want anymore would go to other children that would love them. The boy got a process to organize the toys instead of another toy to the collection.
It took some while for the boy to get used to all of this, but eventually he started to like it. Santa was glad he had helped the boy and made sure that the magazine mysteriously vanished. Hopefully no one ever will think of this again.
Service Management Art
Peter Lijnse
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Main differences between v2 and v3:
* ITIL hasn't been "upgraded" only, but also expanded. This means that while we used to have 10 processes we now have 23 processes (depending how you count you could come up with more).
* Most of the new information is nothing really new, but it was never part of the v2 certification.
* The new additions to v3 are largely based on strategy/design and continual improvement. In practice, the discussion around these topics are not valuable for IT operations staff. It could be interesting to a select audience of senior IT managers.
* The familiar operational processes have been updated (a definite improvement).
APMG (the examination body) has developed a syllabus for the Foundation and Bridging course, that all accredited training courses need to follow.
The resulting effect on training courses:
* students complain about the amount of materials covered in the limited time, while students with v2 experience have a better response to the volume of materials in v3.
* the exam still has 40 multiple choice questions only, so there is less coverage of all the topics (while the student still has to study everything).
* students and trainers get frustrated because they feel they are being setup for failure and/or dissapointment.
It should be noted that the examination body has decided to re-evaluate the current Foundation certificate syllabus. This will take us well into Q1 2008 (or later), before we see the results.
In response, Service Management Art (SMArt) is doing the following:
* Our training materials partner (ITPreneurs) is managing the relationship with the examination body. If the syllabus changes, the course will be amended promptly.
* We have chosen ITPreneurs as our accredited training materials supplier (for students and trainer), and in addition - because of the high quality of the training materials (for certification programs they have in place) - ensuring that all trainers meet stringent certification processes.
* SMArt is offering the ITSM Foundation based on ITIL v3 pocket guide as an extra overview to the training materials.
* SMArt will start offering packages (ITIL v2 Foundation course with an ITIL v3 Bridging course) to provide a more effective training offering
* SMArt also offers customized training packages that address your organizations specfic needs.
We are committed to ITIL v3, but we also want to ensure that our customers have the best quality experience.
The whole certification scheme around ITIL is still very unclear. After a couple of months of Foundation V3 certification, the accreditation body is re-assessing the certification scheme. Though it is not written in stone yet, the rumors are of course plenty. One of the rumors is that the manager's certification might be changed to multiple choices. The current exam is based on an essay style exam. Although my students might disagree with me, I think the current exam is well worth taking if you know how to handle the questions. It all comes back to consulting skills.
Let's analyze a sample question:
Provide three key performance indicators that show the efficiency of the Incident Management process for organization XYZ.
This question consists of multiple parts and unfortunately - like in practice - we often do not see the entire picture:
Some guidance that might be useful:
1. Part 1: we need to know what key performance indicators are
2. Part 2: the KPI's need to show the efficiency of the Incident Management process
3. Part 3: it needs to be aligned to organization XYZ
If you are a consultant advising an organization around Incident Management, you should not misunderstand any part of the customer's question, because that would make your recommendation too generic.
So why, when people answer a service management question, do they usually miss parts of the answer? Because they are not reading the question properly! Which can be compared to the real life situation: not listening to a customer. In a multiple choice exam you would get most of this presented in the answers.
Having this enforced in the exam is a great learning point. I sincerely hope that when the new managers ITIL v3 exams comes out, this capability is tested by the exam. It will make the industry better for sure. As long as we emphasize that to our students, we are not just providing course information - we are providing students with skills they can apply in the real world!
Yes, change is an art!
Service Management Art
Peter Lijnse
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The jack-o-lanterns are carved, the ghosts and goblins are looming, the witches are stewing their brew and the kids are busy finalizing their costume and hunting down the biggest pillow case for their candy. And the parents? Well, I know my mom is probably excitedly shopping at the local store for the coolest stock of Halloween candy to give out - only to be disappointed when all of 5 kids will show up at the door screaming "Trick or Treat!!"
It never ceases to amaze me, how excited my neighborhood still gets for Halloween. Neighbors that saw me grow up continue to decorate and get into the Halloween spirit, which in my opinion is fine, but they also continue to have extremely large stocks of candy to distribute - despite the fact that hardly any kids come to trick or treat in the area anymore. "Well you never know when a bunch of children might just show up, its always good to be prepared." says Mom. (Prepared for "how things always have been" or "how things are changing?")
Let's examine the trends.
Of course I know! 15 years ago, this neighborhood was relatively new; plenty of kids and young families. The average family spends about 10 years in their home, before either they move into smaller dwellings or their kids grow up and move on to universities. This neighborhood has simply aged. The children have grown up and out of the trick or treating phase. There is simply no demand left for the treats. Yet we expend our time and resources on Halloween extravaganzas, buying loads of candies only to have a personal collection of candy leftover - resulting in your own higher blood sugar and extra indulgences.
Didn't anybody notice that things have changed?!
I guess if we indulge in Halloween treats, it shouldn't come as a surprise when we indulge on our resources within our organizations. We continuously fail to understand true business demand and define proactive behavior by purchasing extra disk space or extra PC's just because "we never know when a bunch of requirements might just show up." Also, by the way, resulting in higher blood sugar and plenty of unnecessary indulgences. Happy Trick or Treat'n!
Nearly every IT Service Improvement program suffers from it: Scope Creep. We'd like to believe we're in control, but quite often, more and more activities are continuously entering into the program. Before we know it we have a 'Monster Project' that will be very difficult to handle. So now what? Can we control the monster?
The question behind all this is: Why do we want to change the scope? Most IT Service Improvement programs are based upon building a foundation first. The usual problem is that certain groups in the organization already want to have a roof. We need to show the path to get there, but also convince them that we are not ready yet to build the roof. It all comes back to concise communication about the improvement process.
Some guidance that might be useful:
1. Stick to the original scope as much as possible. Ensure that you guard against additions to the improvements. The 'project monster' is always around the corner, wanting you to add things that could wait. Before you know it you have agreed to all the extra stuff. Best practice: deliver what was agreed upon first.
2. Define the initial scope clearly and get the organizations buy-in and commitment to the scope at the start of the project. It makes it easier to provide 'gentle reminders' to the organization why decisions were made to stick to the scope when the creepy monster starts to lurk. Continuously communicate the vision.
3. Ensure that benefits are linked to your current scope. It's possible that new additions actually reduce the benefits you had originally anticipated.
Every process implementation will have issues with scope creep. Guard against it, ensure you keep the monster out - and don't be tricked.
Service Management Art
Peter Lijnse
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What are some of the factors that attract you to a restaurant? A strong reputation may pique ones curiosity - or perhaps an advertised promotion, a striking exterior, or even the scents from the kitchen. But, besides a variety in marketing messages to persuade a future customer, the most concise outline of a restaurant's marketing plan is... the menu. Industry experts have defined four key elements in a restaurant: the menu, the employees, point-of-purchase promotions, and knowing your customer. Of these four elements, the menu is the place to begin, as the menu is the purest form of a restaurants strategic marketing plan.
An effectively designed menu entices customers to buy the items you want. This is achieved by strategically engineering the menus layout, design, format, graphics and price points to stimulate the selection of highly profitable items.
The most powerful menus are those that can successfully weave important factors into a presentation that drives home a restaurant's message in a matter of minutes.
PRINCIPLES OF FOCUS:
· Pricing for Power
· Spreads that Sell
· Signaling Specials
· Delectable Descriptions
· Importance of Image
· Grand Design of Good Communication
A restaurant's success is largely based on the strength of their menu. An IT organization's success can be based on the same concept, but surprisingly - many IT organizations fail to establish a menu that sells the value IT can bring to an organization, or in other words, an IT Service Catalogue.
Learn from restaurants. They communicate 'what they have' in a way that really attracts people. Do you?
So, now you have developed all your processes. You probably integrated them with your technology, (and of course trained your staff) and you're ready to show some huge improvements in your IT service provisioning. Good.
Then disaster strikes: it becomes clear that not everyone is using your processes anymore, but you didn't know. Your process owner is going to another job and does not spend that much time on it as usually. Slowly the organization goes back to what it used to: ignoring processes and just doing whatever they want whenever they want. You have lost control.
What went wrong?
The scenario sounds familiar, doesn't it? It's the same old story I've seen in many organizations. Why? Most of the time there IS no process control! Organizations utilize an IT process like 'IT Change Management' and then define how the process handles changes. It does not describe how we keep track of:
* the process changes deadlines
* how we are monitoring the ongoing process, and
* how we are going to improve the process.
Are we still coaching the managers? Are they actually willing to be coached? This is an afterthought - but unfortunately often too late to avert disaster.
So, what to do?
* Define how you are going to track the status of work in the process
* Assign the activities to staff define metrics, targets and reporting, to show how the processes are executed
* Organize meetings to discuss actions based on the results of the reports
* Provide coaching to process manager and owners, so they keep on track
* Organize a process meeting where actions are being discussed to further improve the process
Remember, implementing 'Change' is an art. It does not stop after implementation. And yes, you have to be on top of this!
Service Management Art
Peter Lijnse
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I am sure we can all relate in some way to the preceding statement - either as the kids who made the same excuse, or as the parent who has heard the same story. The question is, is it really true? Will your child perform better with the latest 'tech toys', the newest school supplies, (and... funky brands please - because that too, will make their grades better!) or is all they need a solid process?
A similar question can be asked of many organizations. Several organizations strive to be the leaders in technology, and continuously look at acquiring and implementing the latest and greatest 'tool' to enhance their business. The truth is, the greatest return on our investments is likely to come out of the processes we have in place to support our organization as opposed to the amount and type of technology we use to implement them.
For example, whether or not a child uses a laptop versus a workstation to complete an assignment, or 'Hilroy' lined paper versus the general store brand, the critical success factor in completing the assignment will be in making time to complete the research required, design the product, proofread it, and then finalize it in order to hand in the assignment before the required due date. So where we see the most value in delivering the assignment, will be in designing a consistent approach to working on the assignment, and in being able to use time effectively, perhaps by making a day-to-day schedule, where certain blocks of time are allocated to school, homework, extra-curricular and family activities. Where we see the added-value, could be in the tools we use to complete the assignment. A computer typed assignment versus a hand-written one, allows for efficiency in time and ultimately a higher quality end product due to features such as spell check.
So the next time you find yourself facing the age-old debate of school tools versus school process, consider where your child is likely to derive the most value on your investments.
Managing change is an art!
Processes are everywhere, if only we would accept that. Every process is supported by technology and executed by people. When you order a book online, you will follow an ordering process. When you brush your teeth you follow a process (in case you haven't noticed that you start with the same set of teeth everytime). There might be technology to support you, but you still need to follow the steps of the process.
Processes (implied or defined) are a necessary part of life, personal or business. Let's have a look at a simple process example: EMAIL.
Almost everyone has an email account (most of the time multiple). And most of us have difficulty in keeping this a controlled environment. Every day emails arrive, and we just do not have the time to answer all of them. You can turn off the notification in your email client (at least you do not see how much is coming in), or you can color code your emails (so you immediately see if your boss sent you emails). This looks great, but it is really a technology solution that does not get rid of the 1500 emails in your inbox. It does not help you in remembering that you need to send a response to someone. It is just a different way of configuring your technology.
What you really need is a process for email handling.
Try to answer the following questions:
* For every email that comes in what actions are you going to take?
* Do you answer it directly or do you send it of to someone else to action?
* Or do you wait with answering until you have time?
The moment you define the steps for email handling, you will actually have a process defined. If you make that an efficient process, it will help you in handling the amount of email. Now you can organize your email client in such a way that it will support your process. Radical thought. It will not reduce the amount of email, but at least you know how you are going to handle it. Of course you have to keep following the process. The moment the process breaks down, you will be back to the amorphous blob of undoability.
Service Management Art
Peter Lijnse
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I am reading the ITIL v3 books and my mood will change from excitement (about some changes) to depression (about some other changes). Not so different from driving in my hometown Calgary. I have been living in Calgary now for about 3 years. I love the city and especially the nature around this city (excitement). Like any other city we have our challenges with trying to cope with change and maintenance (depression).
So while standing still on 16 Avenue (if you do not know Calgary substitute with any other major road in your town) I started to think: Is this so different than what our IT users go through? As a user of the road infrastructure we feel like the city does not do any proper planning. Why do we have all this construction going on?
When one part is fixed they will start breaking up another road. We do not like to be the victim of change. We want everything to go smooth. And then I realized: I am only seeing the service transition and service operation part - two parts of ITIL v3.
I do not have an insight in the rest of the service lifecycle of road services. I have no clue what the actual design is - I have never bothered to investigate - would the road workers know? Do they care? Let alone that we know what the strategy is for road services. This is actually a political minefield I will stay away from. Not understanding the full service lifecycle (Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation, Continual Service Improvement) will create confusion.
Proper communication to operational staff about strategy and design will be necessary to take away the confusion, but that does not mean that operational staff needs to know the ins-and-outs of the strategy and design processes.
While traffic started to flow again I came to the conclusion that the ITIL v3 Foundation course will not be useful for teaching operational staff what ITIL is all about. While with ITIL v2 organizations would train the whole IT department, I would strongly advice against that with v3. Only specific staff will need the whole lifecycle overview. But this of course undermines the whole certification process. but maybe someone will come to their senses and come up with a service transition and operation certification. That will be enough for most students. - Yes, it is an art!
Service Management Art
Peter Lijnse
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Per May 28, 2007 - we are proud to present a long awaited component of our services: an IT Management Online Bookstore.
Visit our Bookstore and find a wide range of detailed, industry related information.I recently watched the movie trilogy "Back to the Future". At the same time I was involved in the quality audit of the Service Transition book from ITIL v3. It became clear to me that there are a lot of similarities between the two. ITIL is coming out with its next installment: Version 3.
We see the same characters appearing in both trilogies: actors or processes and the story lines are nearly the same. ITIL processes in different times as well. Slight differences because we do not have the same technology, but the story is still the same.
In my consulting work I sometimes feel like back in time as well. Some of our ideas will not be accepted by organizations (yet)? Consequently, I feel like I'm back in the future and need to talk about silo based management and IT services, defined from an IT perspective instead of from a business perspective. Did I travel back in time? Maybe I should get an English sports car- a Jaguar would be nice - I never liked the Delorean. But I digress.
Is ITIL V3 really so new? Remember it was initiated as a project to get new best practices defined and inconsistencies taken away? The technology has changed in the last 25 years, the people have changed in the last 25 years (baby boomers to gen Y) but, did the processes really change?
What I have seen in the older versions of ITIL is still there in the new version. So is this just a cosmetic change? Did we change the layout of the books, without really coming up with innovative ideas? Now don't get me wrong, I do appreciate all the effort that went into the ITIL Refresh (It does improve alignment with Application Development, inconsistencies have been taken away I hope) but: Is it really going to be different when I do a consulting project? I don't think so.
What I see wrong in ITIL 3 (and also in the current version), is that there's always only one best practice. I would rather see different best practices with pros and cons, so that the person that uses it can decide what works best for him/her. One storyline in this case is not enough. We need to provide different scenarios that the user can utilize.
Will it impact the ITIL certification training? For sure. I am looking forward to these books, so I can form my opinion. It feels kind of like finding the fuel source in Back to the Future 2! I know I will find it, but I have to wait till the end of the movie.
Yes, it is an art!
Peter Lijnse
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Service Management Art has entered in an exclusive partnership with BC based Com-Tech Learning Solutions. Together they will organize ITIL and Cobit training in BC on a regular basis. Com-Tech provides customized education solutions to companies, municipalities, organizations and individuals.More info at www.com-techsolutions.com
Just a quick reminder of "what we do":
Service Management Art helps IT organizations when implementing 'Change'. Changes are not as easy as throwing money at it, extensive planning and good project management. You need all that of course. But you also need to "Turn the Key of Willingness".
Make sure people do - what you want them to do - with you. We offer training programs and effective change-solutions to make that happen. 'Change Management is a true Art'...
Contact us today for a creative meeting and experience a different approach to improving your ROI...
Service Management Art
Bahavior Battles in Business.
Are you rewarding your staff for "a fix" after a major mistake or incident that was affecting your customers big time?
Then the message your staff receives from you is this: "Hey, when I fix something reactively , I get a reward!"
This is the ultimate Pavlov effect. Your staff will do it over and over again, because it will provide them with a reward! You've implemented a "Hero Culture".
Wouldn't it be better to reward people for always following the process and therefore preventing incidents?
What to do?
In most organizations where IT is still very reactive, you need to look at how employees' performances are measured and rewarded. This will provide you with an indication on how they will accept improved processes. Depending on the culture of the organization you need to decide what the best strategy is to tackle the Hero Culture. Are you able to convince your staff to follow the process (selling them on the concept) or do you need to change some of the management systems? (reward and bonus systems).
Their reward: If you are really serious about making your organization more proactive, you better provide your employees with some incentives to improve in that direction. And when you do, please hand the reward out to the person that followed the process!
Your reward: your staff will see the difference, will change their behavior and will make your clients more happy! Ultimately resulting in a better revenue...
Yes, it is an art!
Peter Lijnse
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