I am repeatedly asked where a group should begin their ITSM journey. There are many ways to answer this question and doubtlessly if you ask a hundred seasoned ITSM “experts” you may get just as many different answers. There is, however, one answer that is always right – “it depends.”
“It depends” has become somewhat of a tongue in cheek joke in the ITSM community and frustrated many a newcomer. “So, where do I start?” or “How should I implement a process?” or “What metrics should I use?” all are examples of questions that can only be answered by “It depends.”
The reason “it depends” is the answer is that there are a number of important questions that need to be asked in order to give a response. For example, consider the following and how different responses could affect what is done:
- What is the goal? – what is it that you are trying to achieve? The answer to this must drive all decisions.
- What is the available timeframe? – it may be that a phased implementation would be better or that the scope needs to be reduced to meet the schedule.
- What is the level of senior management support? – if there isn’t senior management support then the likelihood of failure is very high. They need to understand the benefits in order to support the requested changes.
- Is there a budget? – changing or implementing a process needs to be managed as a project and as such have a budget to utilize the necessary internal and external resources, fund training, and so forth.
- What is the current level of process maturity? – starting from scratch vs. starting with a relatively mature process can affect decisions dramatically. Imagine, for instance, trying to do something in an organization that does not value processes.
- What is the level of stakeholder ITSM knowledge? – in some cases understanding ITSM and what it is trying to achieve in a given situation can be very valuable.
- What is the political climate? – in an organization that is very political, trying to change how work is done can be very difficult.
- Are outsourcers involved? – environments where this is the case can be a complex challenge due to politics and existing contracts that detail what is to be performed and how changes will be managed.
Thus, when someone asks a question that requires background information such as the above, the only possible answer is “It depends.” Rather than get frustrated, people need to think about potential dependencies in their situation. One approach is to think in terms of PPT (People, Processes and Technology) to identify what may be needed. So, for groups looking for guidance on how to best leverage this blog post, my response is “it depends”.
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