Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Getting certified: should you wait for v3?
v3 is fast approaching and many people are starting to wonder if they should wait for v3 before they get certified
I guess the answer depends on when the training is required. It is important to note that what is contained in v2 will be found in v3. Think of v3 as an expanded v2. Everything in v2 is still there. The processes in v2 will undergo some changes of course. A prime example is the introduction of request management as a process. If you look at the v2 incident management process, there is a decision box that says “Service Request” and then points to a service request process - and then nothing. Well now in v3, we are told this will be fleshed out. There will be a request management process with definitions and examples of service requests. We are told that the foundation will cover all five ITIL v3 core books.
The first question that comes to mind is “why do you want to get certified in ITIL?” and the second question is “what level of certification are you pursuing?” Then you need to ask yourself what the sense of urgency for you (or your organization) to get certified is.
When you look at the information provided by the OGC and APMG about ITIL v3 books and the upcoming qualification scheme, ITIL v2 knowledge is assumed.
You also have to look at the logistics. Is it realistic for the training organizations to offer the fukll range of ITIL v3 qualifications immediately uopn their release? Creating a course is one thing. Making sure that the trainers are knowledgeable in the new topics is another. Make sure that the training provider you select will have qualified trainers on ITIL v3.
My personnal recommendation is to get certified now, especially at the foundation and practitioner levels. I am certain that training organizations will offer workshops on the “what’s new in v3” workshops for people who are already v1 and v2 certified.
It is up-to-you to decide to get certified now or wait for later in the summer.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Why five books?
Many people ask why write five books for ITIL v3? Afterall, there were only two in v2.
Fisrt of all let me clarify that there are actually 9 books in ITIL v2. The certification only concentrated on 2 books, Service Support and Service Delivery. The other seven books are: Planning to Implement Servuce Management, ICT Infrastrcuture management, Applications Management, Security Management, Business Perspective volumes I and II, Software Asset Management.
That being said, why are there five seperate books in v3? I prefer to think of v3 as one book in five tomes. Think of it as an encyclopedia. One book for each letter of the alphabet or something like that. Think of the “Lord of the Ring” by JRR Tolkien. Originally it was written as one manuscript. Technology is the reason it was published as a set of three books (trilogies were not common place back then). Simply put, the publisher though that a) people would not buy and read a book over 1000 pages and b) it was almost impossible to actually physically print such a book at the time. The publisher decided to break up the manuscript into the three books we know today.
The same logic applies to v3. Although each book can stand on its own, it makes more sense as part of a greater whole, the service lifecycle. Some people will need to know all five books very well while others will concentrate on one topic based on their current role. However you look at it, the rest of the library will be available for consultation for all.
V3 is changing the way we think of the IT department. Change is inevitable. Over the years, IT progressed from providing components to systems, to integrated systems to infrastructure to processes to, now, services. We went from machine language programming to current “almost speech-like” computer programming languages. Does this mean that the previous concepts are gone? Does this mean that machine languages are gone? They are still out there, albeit in a different form than they were 20 or 30 years ago. The same can be said of IT in general. We still have discreet components. We still have systems and integrated systems. We still have (and need) processes. What we now have is a different way of packaging IT and offering it to the business using a service approach. What you know today is still useful. We just need to exapnd our knowledge a little.
So, why five books? If we estimate that each book will be about 350 pages (I based my estimates on current v2 format and size) we get over 1750 pages (5 x 350) to read. Try to bring that book on a plane as a carrying-on. The lifecycle was broken down into logical groupings of topics to make it easier to use and to reflect the fact that most current IT roles are loosely aligned to the topics found in each book.
By the way, there will be six books launched if we include the introduction book. and more books will be added as complimentary guidance.
I am looking forward to read each and everyone of them.
Friday, March 16, 2007
75 days before the books are published!
Today is March 16 and there are 75 days left before May 30, the date advertised by the OGC as the day the ITIL v3 books will be available to the public.
I have been involved with ITIL since 1997 and I was there in 2001 when v2, the current version, was launched. At the time it was not as big a deal as ITIL was not as well known outside of Europe. There were few training and consulting organizations and most ITIL compatible tools were still on the horizon. Today the situation is much different as a large number of organizations are using ITIL best practices and there are numerous ITIL compatible tools on the market today not to mention training and consulting organizations.
There is a major fundamental difference between ITIL v2 and ITIL v3. V2 is about a process-led approach to service management. It is implied that by implementing processes organizations will be able to better manage their services. V3 is about the service lifecycle approach. V3 is about understanding what the business does, provide a portfolio of services that matches and supports the business services and continually adjust to be able to react to market pressures and demands.
You have to learn to walk before you learn to run. V3 will allow IT to run with the Business.
Think of v3 as an expanded v2. Everything in v2 is still there. The processes in v2 will undergo some changes of course. A prime example is the introduction of request management as a process. If you look at the v2 incident management process, there is a decision box that says “Service Request” and then points to a service request process - and then nothing. Well now in v3, we are told this will be fleshed out. There will be a request management process with definitions and examples of service requests. What are the changes to the other processes? I don’t know yet and I am looking forward to reading the books. What else will be added in v3? Service Strategy and Continual Service Improvement to name but two.
From the official newsletters from the OGC they mention the introduction of knowledge management as a best practice, managing organizational change, applications management and operations management. Organizations already do this. I am curious to see what the best practices are in these areas. Who knows, maybe you are already doing best practice.
What is going on right now? Well the authors are done with the writing part and the OGC and TSO have started the editing. The qualification panel is working on the v3 qualification scheme.
So what’s left to do? Wait I guess.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Article on ITIL v3
My colleague Troy DuMoulin has recently published an intersting article on ITIL v3 on his blog. Follow the link…
This article is based on publicly available information about ITIL v3 and summarizes key changes relating to ITIL themes.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Interview With ITILv3 Authors
Click here to hear an interview with Gary Case & George Spalding, authors of the new ITILv3 book - “Continual Service Improvement”.
The New ITIL (version 3)
This blog sets out to answer these questions:
- What is ITIL V3?
- How is ITIL V3 different from the previous version?
- Why was a new version of ITIL necessary?
- How has this new version been developed?
- Who’s involved in ITIL V3?
- When will ITIL V3 be ready?
- How do I learn more about ITIL V3?
- When will the certifications line up with the new books?
... and more.
Pink Elephant is directly involved in the ITIL V3 book development project as well as the related certification program. if you have questions or concerns about the ITIL V3 project, please feel free to post them here, and we’ll either answer them or re-direct them to those who can.
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