One of my firmest beliefs is that when we try new things, particularly when introducing new procedures, we should keep things as simple as possible. The ITIL 4 guiding principles back me up on this; “Keep it simple and practical”. But why? To help answer that question, let’s contrast simplicity and complexity. In general, simplicity […]

Hello ITIL Tattlers! This week finds us bringing you ITIL Tattle in unprecedented times and it’s now more than ever that process and routine can help people adapt to the strange world we find ourselves in. Most of us are trying to adapt to ways of working from home, whether that be working out a […]

“Where are you?” might be a common question, but how does that apply to processes?  The answer is “not at all”! Let’s consider a basic process.  Something will trigger the process, then there will be inputs, some sort of activity or task to perform, then outputs.  Good processes will have feedback loops, governance, etc. However, […]

In 1996, a PhD supervisor was in New Zealand on sabbatical and so guidance seemed impossible. Yet my email request for feedback, sent from Edinburgh, received a reply within under 5 minutes. This post is not a rant about email. Instead it probes the default assumption that service desks need to support email as a […]

      This week I’m getting the ITIL deLorean out and taking us back to 2015, when Gavin McLachlan our CIO first set out his plans for Service Management in Information Services (ISG) at the University of Edinburgh. It was Gavin who first introduced the idea of Service Management roles, focussing on 3 specific […]

Spring Is Just Around The Corner… Whilst cycling in this morning there was still snow on the hills but also signs of spring just around the corner… In nature spring is a time of rapid change and this change is often cruel and time bound. The crocuses in the picture are in a race against […]

What is a Forward Schedule of Change? In short, it’s a document that lists Changes and their planned implementation dates. Interestingly, the term “Forward Schedule of Change” hasn’t been used officially in ITIL since v2. For ITIL v3 it was updated (in name only) to “Change Schedule”, and that terminology has remained in ITIL 4. […]

The ITIL Team celebrates its first birthday on February 1st and this week we’re reflecting on our first year of existence and looking to what comes next for us. It’s been a busy old year, so grab a hot drink and settle down to read what we’ve been up to. The Team The one thing […]

There’s a key distinction that’s often missed, between a failed Change and a failed Release (hereafter, referred to as an Adverse Release). It’s the difference between making a mistake about whether a Change will deliver value, and making a mistake in the execution of that Change. Although the value proposition is important – fundamental, you […]

Everyone deals with problems but not everyone can measure how well they deal with problems. To measure you need a clear, shared Problem Management process. If using a dedicated Problem Management function is new to you then the first challenge is identifying all the problems and known errors. Some problems will be well known – […]