http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/tpnb en b.newcomb@pinkelephant.com Copyright 2013 2013-05-02T12:13:38+00:00 http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/tpnb/strongwhat_is_your_roi_for_rca_a_key_problem_management_metric_strong/ http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/tpnb/strongwhat_is_your_roi_for_rca_a_key_problem_management_metric_strong/#When:12:13:38Z The activities of Problem Management are, on the surface, quite similar to those of Incident Management, but the focus of these processes is very different.  Because of this, the type of measurements used to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of these processes are also different.  Most organizations place a significant focus on time-based measures for Incident Management.  This makes sense since the purpose of the process is, by definition, to restore normal service as quickly as possible. On the other hand, Problem Management doesn’t have a similar speed statement, so what type of measure is a good representation of the health of your Problem Management process?  Ultimately, the prevention or elimination of re-occurring Incidents is a good indicator and represents savings realized by decreased load on support/operational resources.  But consider the investment made in Problem Management.  A root cause analysis (RCA), which incorporates significant effort by subject matter experts within the organization, can easily add up. What measure can be made to ensure the use of these valuable staff time is not wasted and a positive return on investment (ROI) is realized?  Based on the assumption that a good RCA will result in an accurate root cause and change request to eliminate Incidents, I like to measure the ‘trial and error’ factor. Scenario: For each problem that has a RCA activity and resulting request for change (RFC), we are looking to determine if the change request that resulted from the RCA eliminated the error on the first try, thereby demonstrating that the investment in the RCA activity saved future repeated attempts to understand the error and ‘try’ a new potential resolution. Ingredients: 1 Problem Management process with RCA activity and ability to track RFC’s against the Problem that Initiated the Change Request. 1 Change Management process with feedback to (and ideally, participation of) Problem Management via post implementation review (PIR) 1 Incident Management process capable of detecting Incident Trends and linking Incidents to a Problem Directions: Step 1: Upon closure of the Problem Record with a status of being permanently solved, the number of RFC’s linked to the Problem is counted. Step 2: For a given period of time, look at all Problems that have been closed with a ‘resolved’ status and calculate what percent had a count of related RFC’s equal to 1 as shown below.  Let’s call it ‘Percentage of Problems with successful RCA.’  If we are to move away from ‘trial and error’ we should aim for a high percentage. Brian Newcomb, ITSM FAQs 2013-05-02T12:13:38+00:00 http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/tpnb/final_thoughts_on_pink13/ http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/tpnb/final_thoughts_on_pink13/#When:22:13:43Z George Spalding, our ebullient Master of Ceremonies and one of the driving forces behind organising the whole event, gives us his parting thoughts on Pink13.  He and the team are already hard at work on Pink14.  Will I see you there? Conferences, Rob England 2013-04-22T22:13:43+00:00 http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/tpnb/project_management_and_itil_why_cant_we_all_just_get_along/ http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/tpnb/project_management_and_itil_why_cant_we_all_just_get_along/#When:19:15:19Z   One of the most common questions I get when teaching the ITIL Foundation course is around how Project Management relates to ITIL.  This question either comes from those currently leading project management or by those feeling the rigor around their organization’s project management practice and wondering how they can leverage some of the best practices from ITIL without ‘upsetting the peace’.  In fact, ITIL recognizes project management as a valuable and important part of IT Service Management and the Service Lifecycle.   Project management, as defined by the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a product, service, or result.  There is a key idea in this definition that a project is temporary and finite – something used to get from point A to point B and then its done.  In a service based IT organization, the majority of projects (if not all) will do one of 3 things:  produce a new service, retire a service, or improve a current service (including any aspect of the service).  The key is to realize this and look at the ITIL Service Lifecycle to see what is happening.  Through the course of the project, many of the ITIL processes are being executed.  The strongest focus is generally in those processes from the Service Strategy, Service Design, and Service Transition phases.  The challenge now is mindset.   In project centric organizations, planning, funding, reporting, and ultimate value to the business is based on the projects being initiated and delivered.  Therefore, project management takes the spotlight and all other activities are subservient.  In many cases, little is considered in terms of long term support of the ongoing ‘service’ that lives on after the project has completed – at least not until closer to launch, if ever.  In a service centric organization, IT provides value by delivering services to the business that facilitates outcomes the business want to achieve.  IT does this by making strategic decisions, based on business input, around what Services need to be offered, how they will create value, what exactly they need to do and how they will be designed.  They manage the build and transition so as to minimize risk and disruption to the business, support it in operation and continually make improvements to ensure it always has high value.   Understanding the role of project management within ITIL requires a paradigm shift around the role of project management.  Organizations must think about moving through the Service Lifecycle and understand all of the processes working to take the business need through to a valuable, operational service.  To effectively accomplish this, project management is used manage resources, tasks, risks, milestones, and ensure all the activities defined in the lifecycle processes are completed as defined.  To transition to this level of realization however, the organization must be able to move past the thought that ‘those activities are part of project management’.  This can be difficult because in most cases, project management existed in the organization first.   Out of necessity, and for lack of any other guidance, many IT organizations adopted project management before ITIL existed or gained mainstream recognition.  Now that there is best practice more specific to guide IT organizations in managing Services, we must thank project management for its years of contribution and transition it to its new role in the organization.   Once we move beyond the ‘we where here first’ mindset, we can leverage project management in ensuring compliance with and moving us through the lifecycle processes.  The project plan can be built to include checkpoints and tasks tied to various processes.  For example, at the onset of the project, the plan may look to ensure a Request For Change (RFC) has been entered in to the Change Management process.  Before build tasks begin, project management can ensure that the RFC has been authorized (by Change Management) for build.  The project plan may also ensure that, in the design and requirements phase, the Service Level Management process is engaged to discuss Service Level Requirements or Event Management is involved to begin identifying and designing the appropriate monitoring.  At this point, the organization is using project management as their greatest partner and driving the full value of their defined IT Service Management processes.  So just like that sign that hung in my room as a kid, “A place for everything and everything in its place.”         Brian Newcomb, ITSM FAQs 2013-04-15T19:15:19+00:00 http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/tpnb/pink13_another_great_itsm_conference/ http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/tpnb/pink13_another_great_itsm_conference/#When:00:38:22Z Pink13 is done and dusted.  All would agree it was a great conference ... again.  The Pink Elephant team do it year after year.  I’m looking forward to the next one - I’ll be at Pink14 next year.  See you there!!  Here is a retrospective I put together of Pink13 for those who missed it, or those who just want to reminisce for a moment. Conferences, Rob England 2013-03-15T00:38:22+00:00 http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/tpnb/looking_back_at_the_itsm_extreme_makeover/ http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/tpnb/looking_back_at_the_itsm_extreme_makeover/#When:01:29:01Z Pink Elephant Principal Consultant Jack Probst was the Pink Elephant lead on the ITSM Extreme Makeover, a project we have blogged about before, where several vendors donates resources to the University of Texas Health Sciences Center to “make over” their IT practices. ITSM can contribute to the community ITSM Extreme Makeover – Have you been following? Get a Feel For the ITSM Extreme Makeover Jack writes about the 4Ps An interview with the UTHSCSA CIO, Jerry York. Coming up to Pink13, and with almost a year gone since the project wrapped up, it is time to look back and reflect on what went down and what we can take away.   Here are some pictures from the Christmas party Jack referred to: You can see Jack at Pink13 and ask him more about the ITSM Extreme Makeover. Conferences, Rob England 2013-01-30T01:29:01+00:00 http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/tpnb/astro_pinky/ http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/tpnb/astro_pinky/#When:21:16:36Z Some of us get a lot more excited than we should about the latest Pink Elephant conference mascot.  Me for example.  Every year I wait with bated breath, and pester David Ratcliffe for hints.  So here is he is for PINK13: Astro Pinky Astro Pinky has his own Twitter account where you can follow all the news about this years conference, live, real-time, right through the conference.  So this is an essential account for all you twitterati to follow.  And of course, keep watching the hashtag #Pink13. The ‘astro-connection’? Why, one of the keynote speakers is Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson! Conferences, Rob England 2013-01-24T21:16:36+00:00 http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/tpnb/some_itsm_christmas_carols/ http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/tpnb/some_itsm_christmas_carols/#When:20:03:00Z To celebrate Christmas the ITSM way, here are some suggested carols and Christmas songs: O Come All Ye FaithfulAn ITSM conference Silent NightThe peace that only a silent phone can bring Hark the Herald iPhones SingThe opposite of Silent NightSee also It Came Upon The Midnight Clear O Come, O Come, a Manual The last resort of technical support We Three Kings of Orient AreHTC, Huawei and Samsung How much is that iPad in the window? The joys of BYOD Root Cause the Red Faced VendorBlame the vendor, that’s what they are for. While Shepherds Watched The night shift operators Christmas is ComingA real project milestone Go Tell It on the Mountain Management reporting The Little Drummer Boy How ITSM consultants feel sometimes Let It SNOW The cries of one particular service desk vendor The 12 Days of ChristmasWe already did that one Happy Holidays everyone! Conferences, Rob England 2012-12-23T20:03:00+00:00 http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/tpnb/self-empowered_leadership/ http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/tpnb/self-empowered_leadership/#When:21:11:28Z One of the primary messages in recent times from David Ratcliffe, President of Pink Elephant, has been Seff-Empowered Leadership.  He spoke about it at PINK12, at the Pink conferences in Mexico and Asia, at the ITSM Leadership Forum, and in his blog earlier this year.  The first ITSM Leadership Forum was an event run by Pink Elephant in Scottsdale, Arizona in August this year, and equally it is a community discussion, right now, online.  The event and the discussions intersect on the session descriptions.  Read that sessions page: it is structured as a set of key questions for ITSM leadership. The theme of leadership can be expected to re-emerge just as strongly for PINK13, so I took an opportunity to talk to David about ITSM Leadership. Conferences, Rob England 2012-10-22T21:11:28+00:00 http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/tpnb/evolution_in_it_management/ http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/tpnb/evolution_in_it_management/#When:00:41:33Z IT Management doesn’t stand still.  If tracking the current directions in IT Management is part or all of your mission at PINK13, here are some sessions to attend. Over the three or four decades of the IT sector, we have matured as an industry and a profession.  We have had some step changes and some evolution. Service Management was a very influential concept which took decades to take hold in IT.  It brought exciting concepts from the service industries. Quality management ideas like Deming, Six Sigma and Lean come from the manufacturing sector and also slowly took hold. We’ve also hatched a few ideas of our own in the IT sector, such as Corporate Governance of IT (ISO/IEC 38500), Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and Knowledge Centered Support (KCS).  The first of those - Governance - is having a huge influence on IT Management at the moment as we come to better understand the political and organisational requirements to realise value from IT And of course we have developed our own bodies of knowledge such as ITIL and COBIT, which now become world leaders and offer value back to the other business sectors. The other great area of growth in our sector has been our maturing of understanding of “People Process Technology”.  We started as a tech-obsessed industry sector, then ITSM led us to understand the importance of process as well. Finally - FINALLY! - in recent years we have grasped that IT is all about people.  In this decade the people message is coming through strongly in many areas, e.g.: Karen Ferris wrote the seminal book Balanced Diversity which pretty much nailed the practice of cultural change in IT for me. David Ratcliffe, the Pink Prez, talks of Self-Empowered leadership.  BYOD and social media aren’t technical issues or process issues. So Governance and People are the huge tectonic shifts in IT Management at the moment as we continue to grow as a sector.  Look for a number of sessions on these topics at PINK13, including: Leadership: Helping Others To Succeed :- Bernardo Tirado, CEO and Founder, The Project Box, LLC, Six Sigma Black Belt ...in fact the whole of Track 1 – Leadership & The ABCs Of ITSM The LOE Index: A Quantitative Tool For Measuring The Individual Response To Organizational Change – An Overview :- Dr. Victoria M. Grady, PhD, Assistant Professorial Lecturer, Department of Organizational Science, Columbian School of Arts & Sciences, George Washington University Business & IT Alignment: What It Really Means :- Paul Wilkinson, Director, GamingWorksBV Tips For Cementing Organizational Change :- Troy DuMoulin, Vice President, Professional Services, Pink Elephant Align IT – For Free! :- Niel Nickolaisen, CIO, Western Governors University Linking Company Strategy To Portfolio Management :- Marc van der Heijden,  Vice President Global IT – Competency Center Sales, Adidas-Group Organization Change & ITIL Service Improvement Initiatives: A Look At 3 Models :- Rae Garrett, Principal Consultant, Pink Elephant The Neuroscience Of Leading Change :- Samad Aidane, Founder, Guerrilla Project Management Using Myers-Briggs To Manage Your IT Project Team :- Bernardo Tirado, CEO and Founder, The Project Box, LLC, Six Sigma Black Belt ITSM Parenting:  Raising Empowered & Self-Sufficient IT Staff :- Andy White, Principle Solutions Marketing, BMC Software Mavens, Connectors, Salesmen – What Every ITSM Leader Needs To Know About Them :- Jack Probst, Principal Consultant, Pink Elephant Navigating The Cultural Silos Of The IT Value Stream :- Troy DuMoulin, Vice President, Professional Services, Pink Elephant What IT Governance Isn’t :- Rob England, The IT Skeptic ...and many more.  These are presentation topics we would seldom have seen five years ago, related to People or Governance.  In 2013 there are too many to list. In addition to these really big shifts, there are some smaller “quakes’ going on, lesser step changes in IT Management, such as The Service Management Office 2.0 :- Troy DuMoulin, Vice President, Professional Services, Pink Elephant ...and my own humble contribution to ITSM step-change, which I am really really excited about: Applying Adaptive Case Management To ITSM: The Standard+Case Approach Please indulge me while I rant about that last one, as it is my own personal passion.  Not many things get The IT Skeptic all fizzy and enthused, but this does.  I think it is a really important change to the way we think about ITSM.  Standard+Case is about applying a body of knowledge called Adaptive Case Management to ITSM, synthesising it with your existing process approach.  Standard+Case (S+C) applies to anything that requires a human response: there’s either a standard response or there isn’t.  If you only look at one new idea this year, look at this one. It is an ITSM game-changer. If you want to keep tabs on the current evolution of IT, these are all sessions to attend at PINK13. Conferences, Rob England 2012-09-29T00:41:33+00:00 http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/tpnb/interviewing_brian_newcomb_pink_elephant_practitioner_of_the_year/ http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/tpnb/interviewing_brian_newcomb_pink_elephant_practitioner_of_the_year/#When:18:13:02Z A year ago I interviewed Brian Newcomb, on behalf of Ohio State University who won the Pink Elephant ITIL Project of the Year last year.  Now Brian’s back in another interview, but this time because he personally won Pink Elephant ITIL Practitioner of the Year this year.  Which is great, because we get a second snapshot of where OSU and Brian are at on their ITSM journey.  My favourite quote from the interview: “Fundamental questions, and when you ask them you get the crickets”.  You can hear more about Brian’s work at OSU at the 17th (SEVENTEENTH!) Annual ITSM Conference and Exhibition next year, where Brian is presenting on Balancing Continual Improvement At Ohio State University: So, you’ve implemented Incident, Problem and Change management.  OK, you’re done!  Right? Well, wait a minute…not so fast!  IT Service Management initiatives are not about being “done” but about what’s next? Not satisfied to rest on the laurels of their 2010 Project of the Year win, OSU embraced a Balanced Scorecard as a means to measure process performance, and maintain momentum to implement additional processes and drive continual improvement; not an easy task when you are one of the largest US universities with over 100,000 users. Join Brian, the 2011 Practitioner Of the Year as he shares practical and proven tips on how OSU maintains the passion to drive its ITSM initiative. Conferences, Rob England 2012-08-14T18:13:02+00:00