“He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp posts – for support rather than for illumination.” Andrew Lang So you need to do reporting and you think that adding categories and subcategories will be the solution? But what if you are wrong? Sometimes the obvious go-to solution is not the optimal solution; neither for […]

  ITIL has been designed to use a common language to describe processes and functions as clearly as possible. Incident Management is a good example of this.   Incident Management is the most mature of the ITIL processes that we use here at The University of Edinburgh. The process was designed in collaboration with the University […]

Hi folks, Matt here again! One of the first big changes that I was responsible for after coming into post as Change Manager, was to implement a regular, weekly CAB. You can thank James Jarvis for the name: Go CAB. If you didn’t already know that James came up with that name, you might have […]

What’s happening?  This is the first and most repeated question in a major incident or critical continuity event. Situation Appraisal is the Kepner-Tregoe thinking process designed to answer this question. The steps are simple in theory: Identify (and log) concerns/issues Set priority Plan next steps Manage involvement However in practice, folk tend to leap all […]

When I started my new job I had to get used to having a job title that some people don’t understand. Previously I was the ‘User Support Manager’, a fairly self explanatory job title, I managed User Support, IS Helpline and the User Support Team. But now? ITIL Manager? What (or who) is ITIL? What […]

Why Saying No Is OK Good service is all about knowing what service you offer and knowing how to deliver it. The corollary is that, knowing what you don’t offer, and saying “No” to our users quickly is every bit as important. Are You A Caller? Perhaps you have calls in where you are the […]

No, not the names of the two muppets in the balcony, but a mysterious problem management technique mentioned in the ITIL® guidance. In “Service Support” (the v2 “blue book”) it was summarised as the following: Defining the Problem Describing the Problem with regard to identity, location, time and size Establishing the possible causes Testing the […]

The term “standard” varies greatly based on context. In gardening, a standard is an ornamental way of growing shrubs, so that there are no lateral branches below the head of the plant. In technology, standards are published documents that establish specifications and procedures designed to maximize reliability and interoperability. And in common parlance, a standard […]

Hello and welcome to ITIL Tattle, the new blog from the Information Services ITIL Team. We’ll be posting regularly, sharing ITIL and ITSM news and best practice. We’re hoping to have something for everyone, from ITIL Experts to those of you starting out in learning more about ITIL and IT Service Management.   But what […]