Pink President's Blog

Thursday, August 26, 2010

3 ITIL Concepts in Perfect Alignment This Week

I’m at our Regional Education Symposium in Scottsdale, Arizona (man, it’s HOT here!). I wrote just a couple of weeks ago that Pink’s RES concept has been a big success. Once again we have around 120 people attending various Intermediate ITIL courses, plus PRINCE 2 Foundation & Practitioner courses.

Many of the customers participating in these courses are using their Pink Personal Education Passes to attend multiple RES events throughout the year (the last couple have been in San Francisco & Chicago, and the next one is in Toronto). We’re seeing many familiar faces showing up each time. That’s quite humbling as well as satisfying to know that people like what we’re doing.

Seeing so many people striving towards their ITIL Expert certification through the Personal Education Pass is great, of course. But we also have small teams of people from the same organization who are each attending maybe just 1 course & certification, while their buddies do the others. This is exactly what we hoped we’d see when we promoted the idea of the “ITSM Expert Team” And we even have a Pass - the Team Education Pass to make this more affordable too.

So here in the Arizona desert this week we have 3 ITIL concepts in perfect alignment!

1. Pink’s Personal & Team Education Passes.
2. Pink’s Regional Education Symposium (RES).
3. LCS’ “ITSM Expert Team” certification.

Monday, August 16, 2010

ITIL Service Manager: Scene Of The Crime

In the UK for a family wedding, I found myself walking past the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey yesterday (the wedding is not in the Abbey I hasten to add). Then, across Parliament Square my line of sight brought the Methodist Central Hall into view. This building means nothing to the vast majority of you out there, but for me it caused a bit of a shudder. You know what I mean. How it feels when a traumatic memory is rekindled in your brain by a sensory trigger? Like how a strong foul odour reminds you of the wrong turning you once took down a stagnant alley in some far away place years ago. Or the unexpected sighting of an old school “friend” bringing back memories of the bullying you suffered at the hands of the older kids.

So what is it about the Methodist Central Hall? Well, that’s where 4 times a year - for the first few years in the early 90s - the ITIL Service Manager exams were offered. This was in the days before they were available “on demand” - something we pleaded with from ISEB & EXIN when we started delivering the ITIL Service Manager courses in the USA & Canada. Up until then, the exams were only available once per quarter. We had to enlighten the exam bodies that you could not reasonably expect people in larger geographies to travel 1000s of miles for a 4th time to sit exams (after they’d already made 3 separate trips to complete the 2 weeks of training courses and the 3-day revision & exam preparation module). Common sense prevailed, eventually, and for the last 13 or so years we’ve had ITIL Service Manager exams available right at the end of the course. That all changes again at the end of this month when the ITIL Service Manager certification is discontinued.

So, it was a little bittersweet for me to be standing outside the Central Methodist Hall in the last few days of the age of the ITIL Service Manager. The very place where me and thousands of other early adopters (including Pink’s very own Barry Brown - who sat the exams on the same days as me) did their first ITIL exams. Never mind, no tears were shed. Within seconds of this picture being taken I was next door in the Westminster Arms enjoying a pint of King’s Best.

Friday, August 06, 2010

Should We Go For An Anti-Gravity Levitation Device? Or A CMDB?

This morning The IT Skeptic wrote on his blog a very sincere, but critical, book review of “The CMDB Imperative”, authored by Carlos Casanova & Glenn O’Donnell. I couldn’t help but weigh-in with my own views. After describing how I think there IS some opportunity for a form of Configuration Management (not sure that’s what it should be called, though) I couldn’t help also drifting into a rant on “ITIL Fundamentalism”.

I wonder if either of these discussions will ever end?

There seems to be a lot of CMS/CMDB fanatics out there. There’s also a lot of people who just don’t get what ITIL is and how it should be used - some of them end up as critics of what I call “ITIL Fundamentalism” - which results in a lot of negative energy. “ITIL Fundamentalism” is not good, but don’t throw the baby out with the bath water! Put ITIL’s concepts to good use where you can. Don’t look upon it as a strict doctrine. And stop whining about it!

Anyway, check out The IT Skeptic’s blog and you can join in the discussions too.

Thursday, August 05, 2010

What Does This Sign Say?

Today we published dates for Pink Perspectives in a few places across Asia, including China (see my previous blog post). That reminded me to look at some photos from my last trip there.

Anyone know what this sign says?

Budgets Were Even Tighter in 2000

At the “ITIL Implementation Tutorial Series” in August, 2000 at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort (see previous blog entry) this was the extent of the pool party we provided for valued Pink customers. I promise, our hospitality has improved since then!

RES Events Are Working Really Well!

We introduced the concept of the Regional Education Symposium (RES) last year and the idea has really caught on - for Pinkers as well as our customers.

To re-cap, we schedule all the ITIL Intermediate courses (and sometimes one or two ad-hoc courses) at the same venue on the same dates. I won’t bother repeating here what the benefits are to our customers, you can read all about those on the RES web pages, but the benefits to us at Pink are turning out to be very welcome indeed.

First of all, our great Trainers get to spend a few days together as a team instead of being out on the road all alone. The common breaks and lunches across the courses - as well as the evenings - gives them a chance to catch up with each other and share ideas. Of course the value of having a quiet beverage with a work buddy after hours should never be under-estimated!

Then, having so many Pinkers together at the same place at the same time makes it something of a no-brainer for our management staff to go along and get some face time with those folks who don’t get into our office too often. So on one evening we may have a staff meeting where people can hear about the latest news in the Company as well as ask questions about any rumours or gossip they’ve heard. We call these “Comm Sessions” at Pink and they normally happen on a monthly basis for office staff. An early evening or early breakfast at the RES is also a good time for a manager to get some one-on-one time with a direct report.

Finally, having 100+ course attendees together for a few days gives some of us the chance to keep in touch with those very important people - our customers. So we do our best to socialize and find out what’s on everyone’s mind. It could be questions or concerns about the world of Pink, or the industry generally. For example, at the RES in Chicago a few months back I enjoyed chatting with quite a few of our most friendly customers and I can honestly say, what I learned from them as directly influenced some of our decisions since. Such as the need to ramp up more options with our hugely successful Personal Education Pass (you’ll be hearing more about this soon - if you haven’t already!)

We have the next RES in a couple of weeks in Scottsdale - at the absolutely gorgeous Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort! I’m planning to spend a few days there (purely for business reasons, you understand) and meet up with some great customers and great Pinkers. This resort has a very special place in the hearts of many of our long-serving Pinkers. It was the venue for a memorable special event we hosted there in 2000 - the “ITIL Implementation Tutorial Series” which later morphed into our “ITIL Implementation Road Map” event. We’ve been going to Scottsdale almost every August ever since. Sometimes people say “Arizona? In August? Are you nuts!?” (or some other choice words with a similar meaning). But I always reply with two statements:

• We are indoors, and they do have air conditioning!
• Going to Arizona in the off-season means we get incredible rates for a 5-star resort (see we do try to be mindful of your budgetary constraints for hotels!)

Anyway, if you’re already planning to be in Scottsdale later this month (well done, you got in early - some courses are already full) let me know and we can share chips & salsa over an ice cold beer!

Next Pink Special Events In Asia

We’ve been staring at the calendar a LOT at Pink HQ these past few days. It’s now looking like the next “Pink Perspective” events in Asia will be the following:

• November 29 - Bangalore
• December 1 - Jakarta
• December 3 - Beijing
• December 6 - Shanghai
• December 8 - Hong Kong

The agenda for all Pink Perspective events through the end of this year is already on the main Pink website. Confirmation of the dates and venues for each location will be posted very soon.

Also, after the success of the 2-day “Pink Elephant IT Management Expert Forum” events in Kuala Lumpur & Singapore in January this year, we’ve now decided on the next dates. They will be:

• December 9-10 - Singapore
• December 13-14 - Kuala Lumpur

Of course, more details will be posted on the Pink website very soon - but you heard it here first!

Friday, July 30, 2010

Lots of New Indian Friends!

I have been literally overwhelmed by the hospitality and gracious comments I received from the many new friends I met in Bangalore this week. I have never had such a response, with dozens of emails and some very nice comments here on the blog. if you were there in Bangalore this week you’ll know that I promised a special gift to all those new friends (we just LOVE to give stuff away here at Pink!) and so don’t worry - I’ll keep that promise. It may take a few days to reach you, though. That’s because I have still not got back home yet (Remember I said I was on a family holiday that I voluntarily interrupted to make a “side trip” to India?) Well, I won’t be back in the office for another week - and I need the help of some folks at Pink HQ to help send off the gift.

The extra good news is that I’ve already started the ball rolling on a follow-up trip back to India. Hopefully in October or November you’ll see me again with a couple of Pink buddies for a Pink Perspective!

Anyway - more on that later in the next week or so. For now, let me say “thank you” once again to the nice folks at ICMG - especially Lekha & Sunil - who helped make my trip possible, plus all the lovely people I met before, during and after my sessions at “Architecture World 2010”.

That’s me with Sunil Dutt Jha, Chief Architect & CEO at iCMG.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

My Gift To The Bangaloreans

If you were one of the people in the audience this morning (whether you can see yourself in the picture, or whether you were off to one of the sides!) you will remember I promised a gift. Many of you gave me your business cards so I could have the gift sent straight to you. I realize that some did not have business cards, but don’t worry, you can still get the gift! Simply email me your mailing address and we can take it from there! You’ll find my email address on the title slides of each of today’s presentations.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Hello to TACTPRO!

Yesterday I met two very nice gentlemen from a new start up consulting firm here in Bangalore - TACTPRO. Working for an organization named “Pink Elephant” I’m often asked how the name came about and is it something significant (well that’s a story I’ve addressed here in other blog entries). So, it’s always good to hear the derivation of other organizations’ names. This one is quite clever. TACTPRO - derived from “Tactful Processes”.

Chirag Kapadia, CEO (on my right) and Rikin Kapadia, Director of Business Development (on my left).

ICMG “Architecture World 2010” Bangalore Presentations

Here is a copy of all the slides I will be using on Wednesday at ICMG’s “Architecture World 2010” Conference in Bangalore.

The_Most_Important_Critical_Success_Factor_In_IT_Service_Management.pdf

Continual_Service_Improvement_From_Strategies_To_Measurements.pdf

I delivered the Critical Succes Factor session earlier this year in Germany for USU. I had more time to present that day and hence there was more detail included. You can access that presentation in an earlier blog entry.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Time Zone Turbulence!

I arrived here in Bangalore at the weekend and it was about 12 hours later before I realized the correct local time. I thought I was 9 hours ahead of EDT back in Toronto. In fact it’s 9.5 hours ahead.

I’d never really thought of it before (here’s this coming from someone who’s home country has 6 times zones, including one - Newfoundland Time - which is 90 minutes ahead of Eastern Time) but this half-hour thing seems a bit odd to me. I’m sure it makes total sense to the people who live here, just it was a bit awkward when I tried to set time zone #2 on my super-duper watch only to find it only does complete hour variations from my home time zone.

So, between you and me, let’s pretend that back home they’re only 9 hours behind, or should I make it 10? Whatever!

                                 

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Good-bye ITIL V2 Service Manager

We’re now well into the phasing out of ITIL V2 qualifications (read the official announcement on dates here). And this month it really starts to wind down with the very last offerings of the ITIL V2 Service Manager course. Programs in Kuala Lumpur & Singapore are already mid-way through and San Francisco began this week. Next week sees the start of the two very last presentations for Pink globally - Johannesburg and Toronto. Toronto being where we delivered the very first ITIL V2 Service Manager course in North America way back in 1998.

I know I’ve blogged about this before - the very, very first ITIL V2 Service Manager course was developed by Pink on behalf of the UK government in 1992. That was actually also the first official ITIL certification course - before even the Foundation or Practitioners. My old buddy, Ron Beales, was tasked with developing and presenting this course - and from what he told me he sat the exams with his students and squeaked through with a pass! Don’t know if that last bit is really true, but it makes for a good story. Over the next few years Ron & I delivered a good big handful of ITIL V2 Service Manager courses in places all over the world - good times! But I couldn’t keep up the frenetic pace and stopped training to take this desk job. Ron, on the other hand has kept going, going. He really is Pink’s version of the Energizer Bunny.

I haven’t seen Ron for a little while, even though he still works in our UK office and has been doing the ITIL V2 Service Manager courses this whole time (I wonder if he’s counted up how many he’s done over those 18 years? Ron??)  Anyway, thinking of the Service Manager and Ron has allowed me to delve into my Pink Photo Library and I came up with this classic. How would you feel showing up for your Service Manager course and being greeted by these two as your Trainers?

Friday, July 16, 2010

Pink Perspective 2010: Hello Ottawa, Calgary & Vancouver!

As promised earlier, here are the dates for our next series of Pink Perspective events:

- Ottawa - September 9
- Calgary - September 14
- Vancouver - September 16

We’re doing a few things differently this time, and we’ll be publishing full details on the main website in the next day or so. The one thing I will mention is that we’ve decided to improve the experience for all involved by strictly limiting attendance. So no more sitting in a cramped room with almost 150 others! Now we’ll have more intimate gatherings. But that means registering early otherwise you’ll be sitting on a wait-list! Anyway, more about the agenda and venues very soon, but for now I’m looking forward to re-connecting with customers in 3 of our great Canadian cities!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

The Fourth Update On My iPad: The 3G Data Plan & Favourite Apps

Well, iPad #2 is working just fine. I activated the 3G plan with my local carrier - Rogers (here in Canada). I had the choice of two plans. In a nutshell they are:

1. $15/month for 250MB
2. $35/month for 5GB

Both involve no long term commitment and can be canceled or upgraded/downgraded from month to month. Seems fair enough.

I thought I may as well start with the cheaper one to see how much usage I take up. After thinking about it and living with it (the plan) for a few days I begun to realize that the amount of usage is going to depend a whole lot on whether I’m away from my home or office when I’m using the iPad (as I have wireless networks in both those places - duh!) So traveling will mean more 3G time and the home/office routine means less. I have a feeling that once I start my next out-of-town trip the 3G usage will skyrocket and I’ll also get stung with roaming charges. Hmmm. I guess I’ll reserve judgment on these plans until I have some data to work with. For now, though I’m beginning to suspect neither of these plans will be right for me, except for the fact there’s no long term commitment - that’s neat.

BTW, my favourite apps so far are - in no particular order :

- NY Times Crossword (1 of only 2 apps I bought - actually the app is free, paid for the subscription).
- Wall Street Journal (the other one - free app & paid subscription. This is probably my favourite app).
- NPR News.
- BBC News.
- Skype (I didn’t even know there was a microphone built-in to the iPad until I tried this app).
- Epicurious (haven’t used this much, but it looks great!)
- Twitterific (my preferred Twitter client for the iPad).
- and of course iBooks.

I did download a bunch of business apps that were recommended on a website I stumbled upon somewhere. I just haven’t got around to trying any of them yet - still having too much fun!