Some ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) Implementation Considerations
Steve from ITIL News commented on my ITIL 3 New Properties blog. Rephrasing Steve he asks for attention on possible implementation pitfalls. So I will take the opportunity to present my thoughts on an ITIL implementation approach.
In his comment Steve presents 3 considerations:
- He warns against homonyms and synonyms.
- Success is dependent on top management support.
- Implementation should be guided by competent people.
Homonyms and synonyms
People with a different culture and/or history background tend to call different things by the same name, and also call the same things differently. In every organizations this is something to consider seriously. Make sure that you understand each other well.
Top management support
Every project is doomed to fail if there is no top management support. Projects take time. It is not sufficient to start them, but also you must finish them. So if nobody is interested in the finish, there will be no finish. People will revert to the way they were working before.
Competent people
If people are not properly selected, trained, and coached they will not be in position to complete tasks on their own successfully. Thus the guidance in this trajectory can only come from properly certified ITIL consultants.
Thoughts On 'My' Implementation Approach
So I agree fully with all points. And there is more.
If I am asked to guide an ITIL implementation I always make sure that there 3 main streams:
- Approach;
- People;
- Tools.
Approach
An ITIL implementation is a serious program. It needs to be defined with proper streams, and proper phasing. It needs a serious analysis of the current situation, and the definition of all activities to perform a step-by-step implementation of ITIL.
People
The people taking part in the program, and the people being the new users and managers of the ITIL modeled IT organization should be properly selected, trained and coached.
Tools
During the implementation, ands in the new organization tools will be needed. they could either be checklists, spreadsheets, or properly formatted information from information systems. Otherwise planning and reporting will be difficult, and it will not be possible to measure the success of the ITIL implementation.
I am sure there are more important issues. Let us discuss.
