let us be constructive…
There seems to be a lot of noise these days about the death of ITIL and certifications being useless.
Without rehashing what is being said or trashing people for there opinions (and I do agree with most of them) let us try to be positive and constructive.
See Aidan Lawes’ blog if you have not done so yet… And don’t forget to read parts 1 and 2 as well as the comments.
Aidan Lawes’ Blog - Criticizing ITIL Part 3
The way I see it, the solution is simple. We all stop using the word “ITIL” and simply use Service Management, not ITSM, not IT Service Management, simply Service Management.
After all, IT is part of the business. It is not us vs. them.
I know what you are thinking; this is oversimplifying. You are correct. However, what we need instead is to promote a more encompassing body of knowledge, which includes governance, compliance, assessment, frameworks, architectures, project management, cultural change, personal skills, soft skills, management skills, etc.
Yes, these courses exist. All have been tried with more of less success in the past. We at Pink Elephant did have management skills and soft skills courses. I am not saying we need to dust them off but we need to look at the way we present things to the world. ITIL is but one of the building blocks.
I understand the business world is not ready for this and may never be. I know what I am proposing may be a pipedream. What I see as one of many issues is that people want the “magical cure” or the “silver bullet.” They want us (the education, consulting, and software and hardware vendor community) to say to them, “read this book,”, “take this foundation course,” “deploy this product” and all will be well.
Sorry, Rome was not built in a day.
A second major issue is money. Courses are expensive. People don’t know what they don’t know. They certainly don’t know whom to send to which course. How many need this course or that course. Do they really need the certificate? What will they really learn; how to do it or how to pass the exam? Let us not forget the time people spent away from their job when they attend a course or conference. I have been a trainer a long time and I am saddened by management’s attitude that they can pull out their people out of a class on a whim.
Yes, I know, business is business and I cannot tell you how to run your business. I don’t want to run your business anyway.
Let’s face it folks. The OGC, APMG, TSO, the EIs, the ATOs, the independent consultants, the software vendors, the hardware vendors are in business to make money. There is nothing wrong with that.
What is wrong is the hype.
What is wrong is the negativity.
What is wrong is not offering solutions.
What is wrong is that we are spending too much time complaining about all that is wrong with the world.
It is like disaster relief. It makes for great news for a few days or weeks. Then the event falls off the news and people forget about it. Except those that are living with the aftermath of the disaster. It pains me that with all of the know-how, abilities, and organizations dedicated to helping others that it always boils down to “lack of money” and “special interest groups”.
Well, it was like that 10,000, 5000, 1000, 500 years ago, last, last week, yesterday. It is the same today and will be the same tomorrow.
If people spent as much energy in building service management instead of pointing out what’s wrong, the possibilities are endless. I know politics are involved, lots of good will, many nice speeches, and little action. People talk a good game, but when it comes time to act…
Where am I going with this? Here is a solution to help our customers. Here is a radical idea.
Why push certifications?
Why push the certification immediately after the course?
Why not let the students take the course, absorb the material, and use it?
Why not let them attend a review session and take the exam later on?
In short, why don’t we push the idea of learning and acquiring the knowledge that will help their organizations?
Passing an exam is nice. Having an exam at the end of a course makes people pay more attention in class. However, the exam is distracting. This is especially true for adult education. The discussion with the students about how to address issues and how to use various components of what you are teaching makes it all worthwhile. That’s when you tell yourself “that’s what I love about my job. When I see that light pop up over their head, it means I have done my job well.”
Until someone burst the bubble by saying something like “but does ITIL has to say about it?” or “but what about the exam”?”
Bummer
stay tuned…
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