Where is the love?

Interest in ITIL v3 certification is still coming, but slowly. There is universal acceptance that the qantum jump from ITIL v2 to the complexity of ITIL v3 rocked the IT Service Management world. There were hundreds of thousands in love with the relative simplicity of v2, but it took that fateful June day in 2007 for us all to realize what we had.

It reminds me of the classic line from the Black Eyed Peas song (Where is the love).

"Lack of understanding is leading us away from unity"

There are plenty out there that are seemingly wanting to derail ITIL v3. Perhaps they have a vested interest in other frameworks, perhaps they don't get it or perhaps they don't want to take the time to learn.

The reality is that ITIL v3 is a solid framework for IT infrastructure management. I was an early detractor - however, time heals all pain. It's time to look at ways to help the community that wants to - move forward into a brighter future.

ITIL v3 - shine the light !!

What is taking so long? v3 next level

We are expecting a news release today regarding ITIL v3 and the next levels of certifcation - Service Lifecycle and Service Capability.

The Examination Board need to have a look at their own overall processes as the current levels of communication and action are leaving many major organizations dis-illusioned about the value of the entire certification scheme.

It has been almost 12 months since the publication of ITIL v3 and we are still officially only have ITIL v3 Foundation and two Bridging courses. People are waiting to get on with the career path development and this basic fact seems to be falling on deaf ears.

Let's hope todays news release brings some happy relief to all of us.

What to do this year for ITIL training?

The reality in the ITIL Training world for us is that throughout 2008 there are two equally viable choices concerning ITIL Education.

Choice 1 – Follow predominant v2 track, with view to upgrade later.
Choice 2 – Follow predominant v3 track.

The only way I can see that you can assist clients make the right choice is to ask a relatively simple question.

What is the current level of maturity within the IT department towards process driven service delivery?
Based on the answers to this question you can steer the client towards a solution.

Answer a) “huh what is process driven Service Delivery?” – head for v2
Answer b) “We’ve heard of it and begun some initial work” – head for v2
Answer c) “We’ve had staff trained and have some of the v2 processes in place already” – head for v2
Answer d) “We’ve been working v2 for some time now and have seen some tangible benefits” – head for v3
Answer e) “We are mature in our adoption of ITIL and are looking for the next step in our drive for improvement” – head for v3

New ITIL v3 Foundation released

It was expected and it is now a reality.

The new (interim) ITIL v3 Foundation syllabus has been released by the APM Group (the official ITIL Accreditor).

The talk was that elements from both the Service Strategy and Continual Service Improvement stages were going to be removed. They have; but it is not what you would term radical change.

There are, to say the least, minor elements that have been removed (including discussions about "value to the business" and specific concepts like Service Provider, but I don't think it will be considered anything major.

The problem is that it even the minor changes represent quite a bit of work for Accredited Training Organzations (ATOs). The good ATOs have developed material that interweave the differnt parts of the Foundaiton syllabus. They spent many hours taking the original syllabus and breaking it down, before re-building it into a cohesive story.

Now, these same ATOs have to disengage elements of the course and advise all their trainers of changes. Remember, it isn't a case of changing a few slides. There is the course outlines, support notes, revision guides, etc. that have to be updated.

Provided that the people who put the syllabus together learn from the exercise, then it isn't really an issue. But with 10 more ITIL v3 courses coming in the next few months, this is not an exercise that needs to be repeated !!